Tree Aid

Tree Aid is a United Kingdom-registered international development charity focused on the relationship between environmental restoration and rural livelihoods in the Sahel and other parts of Africa. Its work combines tree growing, natural-resource management, forest governance, food and nutrition security, and enterprise development. Rather than treating tree planting as an isolated environmental activity, the organisation works with communities to protect and regenerate trees that provide food, fodder, shade, soil protection, fuel and marketable products. The organisation was established in 1987 by Neville Fay and other people working in forestry and arboriculture. Its origins lay in the famine in Ethiopia and in the search for a long-term response to poverty and environmental decline after emergency relief operations had ended. The founding concept was influenced by community-based African Green Belt initiatives and India's Chipko movement. Tree Aid sought to support local people in managing trees and land in ways that could stabilise dryland environments while improving household resilience. Tree Aid operates through offices in Bristol and in African countries including Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Ghana and Mali. Its programmes have also operated in Niger. The organisation supplies or facilitates access to tools, training, local planning processes and business support. Communities may be helped to regenerate trees on farmland, establish forest-management rules, form enterprise groups, improve access to markets, or process products such as shea butter, honey and frankincense. The intended outcomes include better incomes and nutrition, stronger local governance, more equitable participation by women, and protection of forests and soils. Its work contributes to the African Union-led Great Green Wall Sahara and Sahel Initiative, which aims to restore a broad belt of land across the Sahel. Tree Aid has also linked its programmes to United Nations Sustainable Development Goals concerning poverty, gender equality, decent work, climate action and life on land. In its 2019/20 impact reporting, the organisation stated that since 1987 it had helped grow 22 million trees, worked with 1.8 million people and supported 36,350 people through enterprise groups. These figures are historical impact-report figures rather than current totals. Fundraising has included UK public appeals, government-matched donation campaigns and partnerships with organisations such as Ecosia. The charity remains focused on community-led restoration and sustainable use of natural resources in countries facing poverty, land degradation and climate pressures.

Tree Aid was formed in 1987 by Neville Fay and colleagues from the forestry and arboricultural sectors in response to the famine in Ethiopia. The founders wanted to address the structural causes of poverty and environmental decline after short-term emergency assistance had ended. Their model was based on the idea that trees could simultaneously support livelihoods and restore damaged dryland ecosystems. Trees could provide fruit, fodder, shade and soil consolidation, while community management could reduce destructive exploitation of forests and farmland. The organisation developed a community-based approach rather than treating restoration as a purely technical planting exercise. Local people were supported with training, tools and planning processes to grow, protect and manage trees. Over time, Tree Aid expanded its work to include forest governance, natural-resource management, food and nutrition, and enterprise development. This broadened the charity's remit from tree planting to the governance of land and forests and the economic use of non-timber forest products. In Burkina Faso, Tree Aid supported forest-management plans, local land-management committees and restoration techniques intended to improve soil, water and forest conditions. One reported forest-governance programme restored and protected more than 22,800 hectares and increased women's participation in forest management. A separate dryland-development programme trained farmers in water, soil and forest management, supported local committees and helped women develop businesses based on tree products. In Ethiopia, work included protection of the Wof Washa Forest. The programme sought to reduce illegal cutting, strengthen community forest management and improve incomes through enterprise groups processing and selling non-timber forest products. Reported results included sustainable management of 6,261 hectares, increased incomes for 1,622 people and participation by 2,501 people in forest-management cooperatives. In Mali, Tree Aid's forest-management work in the Ségou region supported local rules for forest use, training in restoration and land management, and enterprise groups producing and marketing tree products including shea butter. The programme concluded in 2020. Reported outcomes included 672,000 trees grown, 11,619 hectares protected or restored, 1,500 farmers trained and 204 households moving out of poverty according to the project's reporting. Tree Aid's work forms part of wider regional efforts such as the Great Green Wall Sahara and Sahel Initiative, an African Union-led movement involving countries across the Sahel. The charity has also used fundraising partnerships and matched appeals to finance restoration and livelihood projects. Its 2019/20 impact report stated that since its creation it had helped grow 22 million trees, worked with 1.8 million people and supported 36,350 people through enterprise groups. The organisation currently maintains programmes in Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Ghana, Mali and Niger, with UK and African offices supporting implementation and fundraising.

• 2021

  Future Forest appeal launches

  [1]Tree Aiden.wikipedia.org

  Tree Aid launched a matched fundraising appeal for the protection and sustainable management of Ethiopia's Metema frankincense forest.

• 2020

  Mali forest-management project concludes

  [1]Tree Aiden.wikipedia.org

  Tree Aid reported the completion of a Ségou forest-management programme focused on restoration, local governance and tree-product enterprises.

• 2019

  She Grows campaign

  [1]Tree Aiden.wikipedia.org

  A UK government-matched appeal supported women in Mali developing shea-butter and honey enterprises while restoring local forests.

• 2017

  Ecosia restoration partnership in Ghana

  [1]Tree Aiden.wikipedia.org

  Tree Aid partnered with Ecosia to support community land restoration and tree planting along Ghana's Daka River.

• 2007

  Burkina Faso forest-governance programme begins

  [1]Tree Aiden.wikipedia.org

  Tree Aid began a programme supporting community forest-management plans and the restoration and protection of land in Burkina Faso.

• 1987

  Tree Aid established

  [1]Tree Aiden.wikipedia.org

  Neville Fay and colleagues from forestry and arboricultural backgrounds established Tree Aid in response to the Ethiopian famine and concerns about long-term poverty and environmental degradation.

Tree Aid positions itself as a community-led development charity connecting tree restoration with poverty reduction, food security, climate resilience and locally controlled economic opportunity.

• Environmental restoration · 1987

  Community landscape restoration

  Programmes help rural communities regenerate trees, restore degraded land and improve soil and water management. The work may include farmer training, assisted natural regeneration, local land-use planning and support for community rules that protect trees and forests.

• Community development

  Forest governance

  Tree Aid works with communities and local authorities to establish fair and practical rules for using forests and their resources. The objective is to give people who depend on forests a stronger role in managing them while reducing degradation and improving access to benefits.

• Livelihood development

  Tree-product enterprises

  Enterprise programmes provide training, tools, storage and organisational support so communities can process and sell products such as shea butter, honey and frankincense. The model aims to turn sustainable use of trees into more reliable household income, with particular attention to women's economic participation.

• Food security

  Food and nutrition resilience

  Tree Aid supports trees and land-management practices that improve crop conditions and provide food during droughts or flooding. Fruits, nuts and leaves can supplement household diets and create products for sale when conventional crops fail.

• 2021Future Forest

  United Kingdom · Ethiopia

  The second UK Aid Matched appeal supported communities in Ethiopia's Metema area with training and tools for sustainable use and protection of frankincense trees.

  Source
• 2019She Grows

  United Kingdom · Mali

  A UK government-matched appeal aimed to help 1,000 women in Mali establish small businesses processing and selling shea butter and honey, while providing tools and training to protect and replant forests.

  Source
• 2017Ecosia Daka River restoration partnership

  Ghana

  Tree Aid partnered with Ecosia on community-led restoration and tree planting along the Daka River in Ghana.

  Source

• 2021

  Prioritise sustainable frankincense-forest management in EthiopiaStrategy

  Background

  The Future Forest appeal focused on the Metema frankincense forest and the pressure that climate change and unsustainable use place on forest-dependent communities.

  Action taken

  Tree Aid launched a UK Aid Matched appeal supporting community training and tools for sustainable harvesting and forest protection.

  Source

• 2019

  Use matched fundraising to combine livelihood and forest-protection goalsStrategy

  Background

  Tree Aid's She Grows appeal addressed both women's income generation and the protection of local forests in Mali.

  Action taken

  The organisation sought matched donations for training, tools, small-business development and forest restoration activities.

  Source

1. 1Tree Aiden.wikipedia.org
2. 2Tree Aid official websitetreeaid.org.uk