Helping people to move out of poverty - sustainable development

Trees4Good and Jatropha

Trees4Good works with local people to help them plant Jatropha and other "cash crops" and then benefit from the income generated. In Borneo, on Sabah and Sarawak alone there is in excess of 200,000 hectares of land where virtually nothing will grow. Food crops cannot be grown there and very few other trees can survive – not even palms. Jatropha, on the other hand, thrives in these conditions with the year round warm temperatures and high humidity being close to perfect. With an average oil yield of 3000 litres per hectare when mature, if this land were to be cultivated with Jatropha, the amount of oil produced could rise to over 600 million litres a year.

This living oil field can be grown entirely on waste land. It can provide local people with jobs and income and eliminate the need for logging and poaching. In addition there would be reduced demand for palm oils for bio-fuel so approved logging could also be significantly reduced. These are just some of the reasons why local people as well as key environmental groups are so keen to see the development of Trees4Good Jatropha plantations.

Once a Trees4Good plantation is started, we work with the local people to make sure that it is cared for and grows at a rate that makes sense for the local economy and people. Our objective is sustainable plantations and sustainable jobs for the local people. We work with them and develop their business skills to ensure that the Jatropha plantations will run as profitable commercial enterprises. These plantations will generate revenue for all the partners in the plantations. By making sure that we plant a variety of species we also avoid mono-cultures that exist in many places where re-forestation has been attempted.

How does Trees4Good help the people? Our aim is to create a lot of jobs and businesses. Between 2007 and 2010 our plans are to plant over 50 million Jatropha trees in five countries. That is a huge amount of planting - and to carry out the planting we need a lot of people. More jobs are created in the managing and maintenance of the plantations. We bring jobs to areas of traditionally ultra high unemployment. Trees4Good clients are truly helping to change the world.

How can you get involved in changing people’s lives? It isn't hard. The simplest easiest way is to just buy a few trees from our purchase trees page. This works well for up to 500 trees (and sometimes more). You get a great certificate emailed back to you that you can print and keep. Many people do this for events such as anniversaries, birthdays and also just for fun.

Alternatively, if you contact us we can tell you the costs of planting Jatropha to offset the carbon footprint of your house, business premises, car etc created by CO2 emissions. This is often not the main reason for people planting trees though, its is a desire to help with sustainable development in the countries where we plant.

The growing of cash crops helps locals to develop their economies without destroying the environment. This is exactly what the local tribes people want to do. The crops that they grow help to alleviate poverty, generate jobs and as a by-product can help to reduce CO2 in the atmosphere. Sustainable development will be the key to the future of mankind and Trees4Good is deeply committed to that aim. One tree can be a big help - every tree helps.