Pledge by Eden Reforestation Projects
Global Landscape Restoration
Collaborating with local communities to implement holistic restoration and conservation that generates long-term ecological, social, economic, and biodiversity benefits.Supporting actions: Avoided Deforestation, Nursery Development, Data and Technological Tools, Science and Technical Assistance, Tree Protection through Management, Forest Product Markets and Innovation, Workforce Development, Environmental Education, Conservation Finance,
Eden Reforestation Projects will advance the goal of conserving, restoring, and growing 1 trillion trees by remaining committed to our proven effective Mission and Vision.
Our mission focuses on offering the dignity of employment to people living in impoverished communities who become transformational agents of global forest restoration. Our vision prioritizes building a global restoration network specifically designed to create sustainable livelihoods for hundreds of thousands of people in developing countries by empowering them to plant and protect their community forest.
To date, our network has planted more than 500 million trees around the world in Ethiopia, Madagascar, Nepal, Haiti, Indonesia, Mozambique, Kenya, and Central America – with more than 196 million trees planted in 2020 alone, and over 240 million new trees to be planted in 2021. Eden’s approach to reforestation empowers local communities to plant and conserve their forests. By employing more than 26,000 community members across eight countries, Eden drives sustainable workforce development through cost-effective native tree plantings, all while maintaining a greater than 80% seedling survival rate.
Along with employing individuals to plant trees, we also utilize our employees’ efforts in the collection of seeds and propagules in remnant forests. A large majority of the trees we plant are mangrove species, and at 3-5 years of age, this species begins to produce and drop its own propagules, which can be used to give rise to a new tree. Our international leaders are well versed in the biology of forest restoration and have experimented with many planting methods that produce a high yield at a lower cost. We rigorously monitor our planting sites to track and record planting conditions and progress. By employing community members as monitoring and evaluation specialists we ensure that our projects are successful while creating sustainable livelihoods.
*Eden is currently updating their strategy and will have a refreshed pledge soon!
We have thousands of business partners, non-profit planting partners, foundations, and government agencies, along with numerous private individuals generously and collectively working together to fund our mission and achieve the goal. A list of our corporate partners can be found on our website at www.edenprojects.org/partners.
We hire people from local villages to plant the trees. This gives them an economic incentive to ensure the wellbeing of the restoration project. They also have a sense of “ownership” over the trees and restored forest and they protect it with great care. We plant agroforestry species (fruit, fodder and construction species designed to provide food security and benefit legitimate human needs). Over time, these trees become a source of sustainable income. We do all possible to supply the local communities with alternative fuel sources (fuel-efficient dry wood stoves and solar parabolic stoves), which reduces and/or eliminates their dependence on charcoal.
We offer the dignity of employment to people living in impoverished communities who are empowered to become transformational agents of global forest restoration. We work carefully with all levels of government to secure written agreements designating the restoration sites as protected in perpetuity. Only native species trees are planted, and we implement rigorous monitoring and evaluation standards at our sites. We hire forest guards as part of the labor force. We have recently created a Forest Guard Endowment Fund whereby one cent of the price of each tree is put into a fund for long-term guarding and protection of our sites. Most significantly, we have seen the villagers fall in love with their forest. They also recognize and benefit from the restored forest through an increase in fisheries, improved farming, cleaner water and the formation of microenterprises.
11,500,000,000 MT CO2e