EDEN REFORESTATION PROJECTS
WHO THEY ARE
Eden Reforestation Projects has been funding tropical reforestation and reducing extreme poverty for over 14 years. They:
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Plant in Ethiopia, Philippines, Honduras, Brazil, Madagascar, Mozambique, Kenya, Nepal, Indonesia, and Haiti with futures sites planned in Belize, Guatemala, Tanzania, and Zambia.
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Have a goal to produce, plant, and protect over 4 billion native species trees.
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Have already planted over 977 million trees, including about 10% in agroforestry (e.g., fruit trees planted to support local villages).
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Employ nearly 15,000 full and seasonal workers (mainly women), working in nurseries, planting trees, and protecting them once planted.
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Are a 501(c)(3) organization based in Glendora, California.
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Apply approximately seventy-eight cents of every donated dollar to their mission and program expenses.
WHAT THEY DO
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Eden team leaders have developed systems to count and sort seedlings from nurseries and propagules from mangroves.
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Local villagers then plant the seedlings and propagules within designated sites.
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Seedling and propagule mortality is about 20%, but natural regeneration compensates for this by multiplying the impact of those that survive.
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Natural regeneration typically exceeds 200% of the original numbers planted at mangrove sites.
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The same multiplication effect is seen in Nepal and in dry deciduous sites in Madagascar.
HOW THEY ENSURE AND MONITOR SUCCESS
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The local villagers, who are in extreme poverty and do this work in their communities, have an economic incentive and a sense of “ownership” that ensure the success and protection of the restoration projects.
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The projects are mainly on tribal lands or in national reserves under agreements with government entities that provide for the development of perpetual forests.
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Eden is permanently in its growing regions and conducts reporting and monitoring activities annually to ensure tree survival and quality.
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It also works with third-party verification partners, including the Department of Physical Geography at Stockholm University and Leeds University in the U.K.
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Eden uses technical monitoring systems and employs local villagers to guard and protect the newly reforested sites.