Four years ago this land was bare. Trees had been cut down and little vegetation remained. Fast forward to today and there are trees again.
One of the aims of our forest conservation project is to work with community forest conservation committees to stop the illegal production and sale of charcoal – one of the main causes of deforestation in the area.
But what do people do who were once involved in the charcoal industry? Meet Simon and Malachalu, former charcoal producers and sellers but now chairman and member (respectively) of the Kalani Choma Forest Conservation Committee.
Simon explained, “Ripple Africa has opened our minds and eyes and now instead of making charcoal, we are conserving the environment. We have learnt that the benefit of having trees is enormous including small streams not running dry. This gives us a chance to have water for domestic and agricultural use.”
Simon, Malachalu and the rest of the Forest Conservation Committee work within their community to educate others on the importance of preserving trees. They also care for and protect the regenerated trees.
Within the same area, we work with farmers and communities who are planting millions of trees each year, and these provide a more sustainable source of timber and firewood for local people.
When communities have access to sustainable sources of timber, they no longer cut down existing forests and natural regeneration is able to take place.
Support our Forest Conservation work through planting trees here.
