Few gestures symbolise hope for a better planet like tree-planting. As a Plant a Tree supporter, through Appletree & Avalon’s alliance with World Land Trust, you’re helping to bring trees in their hundreds of thousands to some of the world’s most threatened ecosystems.
They clean our air, and store carbon away from the atmosphere. Food, oxygen, shelter, shade, protected soils and water sources, safety against climate disasters – this much and more they give to us, and to every other being on this planet.
Trees are the bedrock of life as we know it. Together and since the World Land Trust foundation started, WLT supporters like you (buying from Appletree & Avalon) have funded the planting of 2,457,900 native trees to restore threatened habitats across the world.
In 2021 alone, your donations helped WLT partners plant nearly 116,000 saplings across our four Plant a Tree projects, reforesting Mount Kenya’s slopes, India’s elephant corridors, Borneo’s orangutan rainforests and more, with native trees that are better for nature.
By helping to bring trees to some of the most precious tracts of wilderness left on Earth, you’re championing a global cause. Last year, the UN launched its Decade on Ecosystem Restoration because it believes we won’t reverse climate change, biodiversity loss or poverty if we don’t revive, by 2030, the ecosystems all life relies upon.
As a supporter of the UN’s Generation Restoration, every tree you’ve funded through WLT – whether one, a hundred or more – puts us closer to this goal that will decide so much for our planet.
Reforesting Borneo’s Genting Wildlife Corridor – In Malaysian Borneo, we are helping to restore some of the most biodiverse land on earth. In the Kinabatangan Floodplain, your donations are bringing native trees for WLT partner HUTAN to turn former oil palm plantations into lush rainforest, reviving habitats home to hundreds of species and creating conservation jobs for women from a nearby village. A new chance for wildlife, a new chance for local communities
The Kinabatangan Floodplain has lost 80% of its primary forests but through a holistic approach, you’re helping to give a lifeline to this landscape.
The trees Appletree & Avalon are funding are helping HUTAN to reforest habitat that is also being protected through land purchases. The 29 native tree species being planted are a confirmed food source for orangutans. They are helping to restore corridors crucial to the genetic diversity of these great apes, following the crash of local populations from 20,000 individuals in 1900 to about 780 today. And yet it’s not just about orangutans. Appletree & Avalon donations are helping to restore the home of hundreds of species from elephants to hornbills, pangolins or cloud leopards, reconnecting the forest habitat they all need to roam and thrive after years of habitat loss and fragmentation. Your donations are helping to create local jobs in an area where they are scarce. Tree-planting is being taken care of by HUTAN’s squad of women from the local orang sungai (or ‘river people’) community, who handle all stages (planting, maintaining and monitoring) of the process
Reforesting Brazil’s Reserva Ecológica de Guapiaçu – Only 7% of Brazil’s once-vast Atlantic Forest remains standing today but thanks to you, a better future is possible. Appletree & Avalon donations are bringing trees in their tens of thousands to the Reserva Ecológica de Guapiaçu (REGUA), a gift of safety and connectivity for hundreds of species that is unlocking job opportunities and other benefits for local people. This is how you’re giving a new lease of life to one of the most threatened forest regions in the world.
Like in Borneo, the tree-planting you’re supporting packs much more effectiveness because it is part of a holistic conservation approach. The trees Appletree & Avalon are funding are reforesting a reserve expanded by our partner REGUA through land purchases. Appletree & Avalon donations are helping to restore one of the world’s top five conservation hotspots. Within REGUA’s limits, surveys have found 479 bird species (120 of them Atlantic Forest endemics); 73 amphibian and 37 reptile species; and more. The wildlife you’re handing a lifeline to includes mammals like the Southern Woolly Spider Monkey or muriqui, the largest primate of the Americas and a Critically Endangered species thought to number fewer than 1,500 individuals in its entire range. With your help, this project is unlocking tree planting and tree nursery jobs for local people, as well as ecosystem services for communities – such as higher drinking water quality and ecotourism –and a green tax rebate for local authorities
Restoring habitats at Mount Kenya Forest Reserve – At Mount Kenya, a ‘water tower’ forest was under threat after historic logging gave way to invasive species, overgrazing and intensified forest fires. Until Plant a Tree supporters acted. Now, Appletree & Avalon donations are helping to bring hundreds of thousands of native trees to the slopes of this extinct volcano.
Your decision to buy through Appletree & Avalon who actively support Plant a Tree through World land Trust is helping to save an iconic landscape from a fate of degradation. These were lands that were going to be subjected to another forestry cycle but with your help, Nature Kenya is now making sure they are rewilded to native forest instead At Mount Kenya, Appletree & Avalon donations are restoring a landscape that harbours 880 plant species, as well as 53 of Kenya’s 67 African highland biome bird species, 35 forest specialist bird species and little-known, Endangered avian residents like the black-and-white Abbott’s Starling This is also the habitat of Kenya’s largest remaining forest population of African Elephants, with an estimated 2,000-3,000 individuals roaming Mount Kenya’s slopes. Bongo antelopes, as well as big cats from lions to leopards, also call this landscape home. This reforestation work is benefiting Mount Kenya communities, from the Kikuyu to the Meru and the Embu. Grouped in Community Forest Associations, they are the ones raising and planting the seedlings, and then monitoring saplings every six months
Restoring India’s D’ering-Dibru elephant corridor – In north eastern India, deforestation was cornering elephant herds, forcing them to roam into crops and villages. But now a different future is possible, thanks to Plant a Tree supporters. With help from Appletree & Avalon donations, 150,000 trees will be planted in the coming years by the communities who know this landscape best. Local jobs created, a corridor restored for elephants, tigers and leopards – and you’re making it all possible.
It’s hard to overstate the importance of the restoration project you’re supporting. The Assam and Arunachal Pradesh states are home to >75% of the 9,000 Asian Elephants thought to live in India’s northeast, and this corridor is a conservation priority. And it’s not just elephants. Species from Tiger to Leopard, Wild Water Buffalo and India’s only ape (the Western Hoolock Gibbon) all live here, as well as a Critically Endangered bird (the Bengal Florican) estimated to only number 350-1,500 individuals across its entire range. With help from Appletree & Avalon donations, reforestation is linking degraded forest fragments for all these species to travel in safety. The 32 native species being planted mimic the original landscape, like the tropical Chukrasia trees known as the Indian mahogany. Local Adi and Mishing communities are the engine of this project. WTI has been hiring villagers for nursery management, quality seedling production, restoration site preparation and tree-planting, with our partner
If tree-planting is to make the necessary impact in this crucial UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, it must be led by – and unlock a better future for – the communities who know first-hand the ecosystems, the life they harbour and the threats it faces. Appletree & Avalon’s Plant a Tree donations are supporting holistic projects that place local people at the centre of reforestation efforts, from the Bornean women who are offered a conservation career as tree-planters; to the Kenyan villages who lead tree-planting to protect a water source crucial to the community; the Brazilian municipalities who enjoy new tree-planting jobs and green tax rebates; or the Indian families who see their livelihood standards lifted through tailored development plans and education activities.
And this is JUST with Plant a Tree, we also support the work World land Trust do to restore habitats! There is so much that goes on & so many great things we’re involved in. If you’ve not already followed us on social, please do. Every single purchase goes towards desperate work required to help our planet survive for the future.
As the appetite to shop locally & support local businesses grows, we took part in the first-ever Made in UK Day on Tuesday 9 March 2021. This was something we felt was important & dear to our hearts as I had set the business up before Brexit, before Covid & before the small business movement concentrating on British manufacture as important integral part to this business & the thinking behind its sustainable ethos
Veganuary is a UK nonprofit organisation that promotes and educates about veganism by encouraging people to follow a vegan lifestyle for the month of January.
Want a tasty meal to get you started? Something that won’t cost the earth, financially or literally!
Here’s a simple recipe for Aubergine & Sage Spaghetti
Each Christmas, the UK generates the equivalent weight of 3.3million emperor penguins in plastic waste!
1 billion cards will end up in the bin/trash….
27,000 miles of wrapping paper is used every year in the U.K, most of which can’t be recycled due to glitter or metallic finishes….
AND 250,000 tonnes of food waste is generated every Christmas in the U.K alone! (Equivalent to 2 million turkeys)
On top of that, 81 million unwanted Christmas presents are given each year… with 10% of these ending up in landfill!
With these staggering figures, it’s easy to find alternatives to our current habits. Particularly with this year being so difficult to get out & about to see anyone. If you are buying this year, #buybetterfortheplanet.
