Big news, before/afters and honey badgers ??
Welcome to our July highlights, packed with inspiring updates from WeForest’s projects around the world ??
Read on to discover inspiring stories of regeneration, resilience, and sustainability from Ethiopia to Zambia and Malawi.
Read all about it ??
Our restoration project in Katanino, Zambia, was recently featured in an article in Mongabay.
Zambian forest reserve rebounds with a little assistance explores the incredible work of our team and the surrounding communities since the project started in 2019, after Katanino Forest Reserve had lost over 58% of its tree cover in just 20 years due to charcoal production.
Assisted natural regeneration has rejuvenated the reserve, with forest cover increasing by 57.3% since 2019. Wildlife is returning, with increased sightings of birds, reptiles, and mammals, including African crowned eagles and gaboon vipers.
To make sure this progress continues in the long term, we support local families in adopting forest-friendly livelihoods such as beekeeping and conservation agriculture to reduce tree loss in the reserve and protect forests on farms.
Before and after ????
They’re our favorite type of story to share: here’s another incredible before and after.
Let us take you to Ethiopia with photos taken on our site in Desa’a. We’re working here to reverse land degradation and poverty through forest landscape restoration.
The results speak for themselves, but we have some great numbers to go with them:
A huge thank you to our team on the ground and the local communities we work with who made this happen.
News and stories
Meet Aubrey ??
The Katanino team recently shared the moving story of Aubrey C. and his family, who've been involved with the project from the start and have weathered some challenges along the way.
Aubrey, 33, started working with WeForest in July 2019, collecting socio-economic baseline data. In 2020, he joined the Katanino Law Enforcement Team to patrol the Forest Reserve. Along with 14 others, he reduced illegal charcoal incidents from 296 in February 2020 to zero by April 2022.
The allowance from forest patrols was his family's main income. Unfortunately, in 2023, he became visually impaired and couldn't continue his duties. His wife, Olipa, took over as the breadwinner through our Treadle Pump Scheme, growing cabbages. Despite his loss of sight, Aubrey helps by pumping water. They now earn enough from vegetable sales to cover food, school materials, and seeds for their 0.25 ha plot.
领英推荐
It’s official for Desa’a ??
WeForest's largest restoration initiative in Ethiopia's Tigray region has achieved verification under Preferred by Nature's Ecosystem Restoration Standard (ERS). This confirms the project is on track to protect and restore 38 000 hectares of forest, helping to bring water back to a region threatened by desertification.
The verification also highlights WeForest’s comprehensive Forest and Landscape Restoration approach and intense stakeholder engagement. This contributes to lifting rural communities out of poverty by providing alternative income sources through sustainable agriculture, agroforestry, and beekeeping.
Despite regional conflicts, the project excelled, meeting 92% of the ERS indicators during the audit. Congratulations to our team on the ground and the local communities who made this happen!
Honey badgers in Katanino ??
Five years ago, sights like this were very uncommon in the heavily degraded Katanino Forest Reserve. Now we can see the amazing impact of our ecological restoration, as wildlife returns!
These honey badgers (Mellivora capensis) may look cuddly, but don't get too close – they're one of Africa's most ferocious animals, and have even been known to attack lions when threatened.
Head to our explorer.land to see the camera trap footage of these two honey badgers scampering across the forest.
Next steps for Malawi ??
Our Malawi team is celebrating! The project’s Forest Management Plans have been officially endorsed by the Director of Forestry in Malawi’s Ministry of Natural Resources and Climate Change.
These plans solidify our collaborative efforts to work with communities to protect and restore over 7500 hectares of native miombo between now and 2029.
Additionally, a five-year Memorandum of Understanding signed with the Department of Forestry underscores our commitment to supporting Malawi's mandate in restoring, conserving, and protecting the Mulanje Forest Reserve.
These milestones mark a significant step forward in forest conservation in Malawi, laying a strong foundation for future sustainability and community engagement in forestry practices.
3 news sources you can trust ???
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program officer at EFDA
8 个月Apple growing at farmers backyard
program officer at EFDA
8 个月Product of natural forest Honey harvested from improved bee hives,
program officer at EFDA
8 个月This was happening at one of the project intervention areas of EFDA "Rearing a child & seedlings" simultaneously on mothers hand.
Assistant Partner Coordinator at Trees for the Future
8 个月Good point!