Growing forests with the people who tend them

Since 2022 our restoration teams have worked alongside households, schools and local councils to put indigenous and fruit trees back into landscapes that have been steadily thinning out. The planting day is the easy part. Survival rates depend on who feels ownership of the seedling twelve months later.

In Kyegegwa District, where refugee and host communities share fragile land and firewood demand is high, we pair every planting site with a community caretaker arrangement. Fruit species are deliberately included so that the trees carry household value, not just environmental value.

Restoration only holds when the community sees a direct return. Fodder, fruit, shade, soil stability and windbreaks are all part of the pitch — and they are the reason a plot still has trees standing three seasons later.

Our next phase focuses on nursery capacity within the communities themselves, so that seedling supply no longer depends on a single external delivery each season.