WHY
SENSITIZATION?
Planting trees is good, but sensitizing on the best trees to plant, why to plant them, and how to care for them is vital to ensure best results in our tree planting campaign. We run our sensitization program in schools and communities.
Youths are tomorrow’s adults. We sensitize them on issues like climate change and the essential role of biodiversity in humans’ existence to make appropriate decisions in the future. And we train adults on understanding the critical role played by trees in ecosystems.
YOUTH SENSITIZATION
Sensitizing Youth on the Importance of Indigenous Trees
Sensitizing the youth allows them to take appropriate actions in the future to conserve and better the environment. Our youth sensitization program happens in primary and secondary learning institutions (from 10 to 18 years old). We teach about the importance of indigenous trees for biodiversity, soil fertility, rain attraction, and water table replenishing. Since 2017, we have sensitized 57,789 youths. We also plant trees with them as part of the sensitization program.
Youth are tomorrow's adults. We give them means to better understand the importance of trees.
RECEPTIVE
Other than their open-mindedness and eagerness to learn, children are great imitators. These qualities are among the many reasons for our youth sensitization program.
TALKATIVE
The best way to spread information is sharing it with children because they easily open up about what they heard or saw.
VECTORS FOR COOPERATION
Sensitizing children creates access to schools and a platform for adults like teachers, parents, and officials to join in our initiatives and be role models for the children.
Curriculum
What We Teach Them
ROOTS & WATER
Deforestation contributes to depleting our water tables. Bare land causes surface runoff that prevents groundwater replenishment.
Trees’ roots dig deep into the soil, increasing soil porosity and creating channels through which rainwater sips in and replenishes the water table.
TREES & RAINS
While forested areas attract rainfalls, deforested areas create high atmospheric pressure, which chases away clouds (biotic pump).
Forested areas tremendously reduce soil heat which fosters low atmospheric pressure, thus making the environment favorable for rain.
SOIL FERTILITY
Deforestation and conventional farming practices deplete organic soil matter and soil moisture. An escalation in these activities reduces crop production.
Tree leaves fall and decompose to form organic soil matter, and their roots provide a habitat for bacteria, fungi, insects and other animals.
BIODIVERSITY
Deforestation is causing disappearance of insects, birds, and other living organisms that depend on trees for survival.
Trees provide food and habitat to a large percentage of living beings, thus conserving biodiversity.
ADULT SENSITIZATION
Our Teaching Program to Rural Communities on The Importance of Indigenous Trees
As part of our tree distribution program of 125,000 trees in 2022, we sensitize each of our +1,200 beneficiaries on the importance of trees for human existence. They also receive 80 indigenous trees of 40 different species and they are trained on how to take care of them. > LEARN MORE
The teaching aims to shift the perception of rural communities towards trees from tree cutting (firewood, charcoal burning, and timber) to trees’ environmental benefits, which have a direct positive impact on communities’ livelihoods.
Why Trees Matter
Trees' Direct Benefits to Communities Livelihoods
TREES FOSTER RAINFALLS
When bare land is being hit directly by the sunlight, the heat contributes to a high atmospheric pressure, which disperses clouds (biotic pump). Moreover, bare land emits negligible amounts of water into the air compared to reforested land.
Tree cover cools down the ground and helps clouds form on its top. On the other hand, the high humidity that they contribute to and maintain in the air further boosts cloud formation.
ROOTS HELP REFILL THE WATER TABLE
Clearing forests is a contributor to water scarcity. Deforestation leaves land bare, which causes surface runoff instead of percolation.
Trees have root systems that penetrate deep into the soil and loosen it, allowing water to sip easily underground. The roots also form channels through which rainwater penetrates underground and replenishes the water table.
TREE LEAVES BOOST SOIL FERTILITY
Conventional agricultural practices, together with deforestation, deplete soil’s organic matter. This releases tremendous amounts of CO2 into the atmosphere.
The litter formed by shaded leaves retain soil moisture and provide optimal conditions for bacteria, fungi and insects to thrive. Eventually, it rot into organic matter that improve soil fertility.
TREES HELP MITIGATE CLIMATE CHANGE
Climate change results in seasons unpredictability, heavy floods, sudden droughts, etc. Deforestation is a significant factor in it.
Trees sequester huge amounts of CO2 from the air. They purify the air, attract rainfalls, prevent soil erosion, curb flooding, replenish water tables, etc.