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Awareness around the complex web of global issues we’re currently facing is growing: from climate change and biodiversity loss to worker exploitation, we are being confronted by a pressing need for change on many scales, across many systems. Despite narratives suggesting otherwise, the overarching response to this information is a demand for action. Whether people are buying less meat, avoiding unnecessary packaging or shopping more locally, the typical consumer’s decision making process now undeniably involves factors to do with sustainability. This has a wide range of positive impacts: motivating companies to make more ethical decisions, reducing waste on a global scale and providing smaller organisations with the ability to contribute to their area’s economy.
Unfortunately, when a corporation’s key priority is profit, the situation becomes more complicated. Given the option to appear more sustainable, or make the organisational changes to actually have an impact, many of the world’s largest companies chose the former. This is in some ways a sign of progress: the fact that they are performing these superficial actions shows that there is now a financial incentive to at least appear to make changes. But how do we continue to apply pressure and force companies to take more meaningful steps towards being more environmentally and socially responsible?
While Word Forest is aware we cannot be a perfect organisation, we have worked hard to ensure that our campaigns prioritise genuine impact over marketability and have thought deeply about the interconnected nature of the issues we are trying to address. For TreesAreTheKey awareness week we have been drawing attention to not only the importance of planting (and then maintaining!) new trees but also considering how this work can contribute to other forms of support for the communities involved.
Having planted our first 150 trees in 2012, over the last 14 years our charity has been joined by a range of organisations who label themselves as planting trees, but what does this mean in practice? In 2023 it was revealed that 90% of rainforest offsets provided by Verra, a leading carbon standard provider, were in fact phantom. Given the complicated nature of environmental messaging, and the marketability of the phrase ‘carbon-neutral’, we feel acutely aware of the fact that planting trees is something often misappropriated by organisations to avoid more meaningful change. Trees Are The Key awareness week has been focusing on all the positive effects planting trees can have but today we wanted to share some ways to make sure these impacts are really happening.
Questions to ask when an organisation claims to plant trees:
Where are the trees being planted?
Word Forest plants trees in Boré, Kenya – an environment which is suited to the species we plant and allows them to grow up to ten times faster than in more northern latitudes.
How are the trees being funded, what wage is the company paying the planters?
Word Forest plants one tree for every £2.50 donated, this allows us to pay a fair wage while also contributing to other community initiatives such as raising funds to build stone classrooms.
How is the local community being affected? Do they support the planting? Are there other initiatives in place alongside the planting scheme?
Here at Word Forest we recognise that while planting trees is what enables us to do the rest of our work, our biggest impact comes from the schemes which we run alongside. Not only do the trees themselves improve food security and access to cool, shaded spaces but we are actively involved in empowering the communities we work with.
What type of trees are being planted? Are there a variety of species or is the organisation creating a monoculture?
Species Word Forest plants include mango, cashew, neem, casuarina and moringa. These are trees native to the region that not only help to strengthen food security but have helped preserve local wildlife, maintaining the unique ecosystems they need to thrive.
What degree of lifetime monitoring is there? How many saplings become mature trees and how many die soon after planting?
Word Forest takes a community-led approach that respects and builds upon indigenous knowledge alongside working with forestry experts to ensure that drought resistance and forward planning for further extremes are built into the planting schedule. Our work goes beyond just planting trees, making sure that the support is there to get the trees to maturity and equipping future generations through our agro-forestry education.
By asking these critical questions, we move past the surface-level appeal of ‘green’ branding and ensure that our support goes toward projects that truly nourish the planet and its people. Planting a tree is a beautiful act, but ensuring it thrives within a supported, fairly-paid community is how we create lasting change. If you’re ready to make a genuine, transparent impact today, please donate to Word Forest and help us grow a more sustainable future.
Evelyn Byrne and The Team