TravelLocal Fund For Good: interview with Tree Aid

As part of our commitment to being a force for good in the travel industry, in 2023 we set up the TravelLocal Fund For Good. This fund will be distributed to charities around the world that are doing crucial work to alleviate challenges like environmental degradation, wildlife conservation, and access to clean drinking water.

One of these is Tree Aid, an incredible charity that works with communities across Africa to harness the power of trees, restore ecosystems, and support lasting livelihoods. In this interview with Tree Aid, we speak to Katie Edmondson, Corporate Partnerships Manager, about the impact this charity has had in Ethiopia and beyond, its community-driven focus, and the undeniable challenges posed by the climate crisis.

What was the motivation behind the creation of Tree Aid?

Tree Aid was founded in Bristol in 1987 by a group of foresters in response to the famine happening in Ethiopia. With their background, they knew that the financial aid Ethiopia was receiving wasn’t a long-term solution to what the local communities were facing. They had a clear belief: in the drylands of Africa, trees are a lifeline.

What began as a small effort has grown into a community-led movement, supporting nearly four million people by restoring land, strengthening livelihoods, and helping people build resilience in the face of the climate crisis.

Nearly four decades on, our mission remains the same. We harness the power of trees so people and the planet can thrive together. It’s not just about planting trees — the trees we grow provide a natural resource to bring land back to life, provide livelihoods and income, and offer food security and nutrition to families.

How would you explain the importance of what Tree Aid does to our customers?

Tree Aid’s contribution is hugely important: the climate crisis is being felt everywhere, but everything that we’re experiencing is being felt a million times more in the Sahel. The land there is severely degraded, crops can’t grow, there isn’t enough food, and the people aren’t making an income. The number of people being forced into poverty and unable to provide for their families is increasing. There’s a greater need amongst the community for land that’s already depleting, and the work Tree Aid does is vital to that community’s survival, helping empower them, make them self-sufficient, and earn an income.

We are a relatively small charity but making a big impact. We work closely with program managers who continue to share some lovely stories of impact from the projects that Tree Aid fund. The stories of the women benefitting are particularly touching. Having been involved in our projects, a lot of women have learned new skills, gained financial independence, and have been able to send their children to school. What we do creates a ripple effect through the community, so everyone benefits alongside the environment.

How does Tree Aid select the locations you’ll be helping and the tree species planted there?

We currently work across the drylands of Africa, in Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Ghana, Mali, Niger and Senegal, where the climate crisis is shrinking fertile land and putting pressure on the lives of more than 300 million people.

We’re completely community-led, we have offices in all of the countries we work in, and we employ local people who really know the community there. This is really important, as we want to make sure the community working on the land is going to then have access to that land and the fruits produced by the trees planted. One of the first things we do is make a needs assessment: we find out what’s already growing in a given area and what’s in need, involving the community from step one, and we put work in to ensure good tree survival rates.

How do you ensure the survival and growth of the trees you plant in dry conditions?

One of the most difficult issues we face is of course the climate crisis: we’ve had communities tell us they used to be able to plan their farming and planting, but now, late or heavier rainfalls can throw everything out of balance. Forest fires, droughts, floodings and more, also make it really tough to grow trees, so communities have learnt to adapt and become resilient to increasingly erratic weather.

We do a lot of work around making sure water is available in the areas we help. We work with communities to build boulis — massive pits of water that capture the rainfall during the wet season, typically over only a few months in the year. This is to ensure the survival of the trees we plant, as well as of the crops we plant around them that help the trees’ growth.

What experience have you had with getting the local communities involved in your projects?

Having been around for a while, we’re now able to show the local communities the benefits of what we do and help them understand that we’re there to listen to them and their needs. Once we’ve started working in one community, it’s also quite an organic process of then expanding the work we do into neighboring communities. After a project’s completion, we do a lot of work around monitoring and evaluation, to make sure the trees are still growing, and the communities continue to be self-sufficient.

Make it happen

Raising funds is vital, as Tree Aid couldn’t continue the work they’re doing without help from supporters around the world. If you’re looking for ways to support them yourself, please visit their website and get in touch with them directly.