Green Life Changing Program:

• Your card will be charged in Euro when submitting your donation.
• If you want to transfer money via bank instead of using your card for a tree donation, you can choose to either transfer using Norwegian kroner or Euro as currency. It costs EUR 10 per tree or NOK 100 per tree.

You can! We offer a monthly subscription on donation trees, so you can reduce your carbon footprint over time, and help impoverished farmers in East Africa to better secure their livelihood and survival.

If you are a new donor, you can register here to setup your subscription. If you are an existing donor, sign onto your account and go to the menu "Donate Trees > Monthly Tree Subscription."

If you start a monthly subscription on trees, you can sign onto our website at any time and access the menu "Donate Trees > Monthly Tree Subscription" and turn the subscription On/Off with a single click.

You can also change the monthly withdrawal day, number of donation trees, and which payment method you want to use in the same form.

Better Globe Forestry (BGF) plants mainly two different mahogany trees:

• Melia volkensii, also called mukau
• Melia azedarach, also called Giant lira (how to distinguish them)

BGF also plants Teak, Moringa, and Acacia Senegal (Gum Arabic).

BGF started establishing tree plantations in 2004 and began collaborating with partner farmers in 2016 in Kenya. The work with partner farmers spread to Uganda in 2018 and in 2020 there were more than 15,000 partner farmers involved in Kenya and Uganda. BGF plans to establish operations in Tanzania by 2024.

We only plant trees in Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania, as we look at those as political stable countries.

Land grabbing refers to large-scale land acquisitions mainly by powerful multinational companies and other private and public investors that buy or lease farmland to produce agricultural commodities. Usually they exploit poor communities and governments, where bribes are common, and they operate in legal gray areas. The locals are often forced to move away from the land they have lived in and that usually does not go well. Squatters invade the land and do harm towards the commodities.

Our forestry partner, Better Globe Forestry (BGF), has a very different approach for leasing land. BGF:

• leases land in semi-arid areas unsuitable for economic activities and with smaller populations;
• involves everyone from the local communities and up to government level to make sure all parties work together;
• contributes to schools and childrens' education for locals;
• provides jobs for locals that boost their economy;
• funds microfinance banks which makes it easier for locals to start their own business and improve their life quality and financial independency;
• trains local farmers on how they can grow trees among their food crops to increase their income;
• initiated the Green Initiative Challenge with KenGen and Bamburi Cement Limited to promote environmental awareness and tree planting at schools; and
• provides water catchment systems for schools.

BGF has three plantations (in additon to a pilot plantation) and has no goal to add more leasing contracts for more land. BGF instead works with thousands of partner farmers to improve their ability for sustainable farming and stand up against land grabbing.

Many people boycott tropical timber for climate change reasons and choose to buy plantation wood instead to save the rainforest. Trees are harvested different ways; some are used for pulp production, while others for flooring, decking, moldings, furniture, etc.

Plantations that are made of a single species and well trimmed can be a problem for diversity and cannot harbor a variety of wildlife. They are generally more susceptible to disease and insect attacks and need extensive chemical support.

With that said, plantations are really the most effective way to secure and get most value out of the trees — including carbon capturing, and to encourage planting and replanting on a regular basis — keeping the world green for decades. Even centuries.

Fast-growing trees on plantations can provide a lot of jobs. Duties like tending the nurseries, planting the trees, trimming and maintaining the trees, followed by a fast cutting rate, all supply factories that need a constant input to keep people employed. Without plantations, unemployment and regional instability would increase.

Plantations can help save high-value forests and reduce the pressure on cutting native forests. They also help the land to recover after a disaster, man-made or natural, as trees will be replanted. They stop erosion and develop the economy in the local society.

Our forestry partner, Better Globe Forestry (BGF) is specialized in planting high quality mahogany trees for our customers, but that is not the only species they plant. BGF plants different tree species, where some provide multiple uses throughout their lifetime. Here are a couple of them:

• Acacia senegal produces gum arabic, a natural gum with a unique chemical composition, that solidifies once tapped from the stem and can be harvested for various commercial applications, such as food, medicine, and printing.
• Moringa is known as a miracle tree and has many incredible properties. There are claims that moringa treats or cures 300 diseases. One can use the leaves to make moringa powder that can be capsuled, and one can also use the seeds to extract and produce oil.

BGF does not convert native forests into plantations but is instead the only privately owned forestry company that has specialized in planting trees in semi-arid areas. BGF makes a green "oasis" in areas known for draught and little life.

BGF understands the need for biodiversity and are not increasing the number of plantations to satisfy an increased market demand. Instead, BGF uses thousands of partner farmers to plant trees on their own land. Biodiversity is maintained, and farmers can plant mahogany trees and moringa trees on their farms among their existing food crops. They all work together, and the food crops become so much more sustainable by utilizing all the qualities from the trees, as they:

• provide shadow for the crops,
• protect against wind,
• hinder erosion,
• sustain water, and
• keep the soil moist.

The trees provide additional income sources for partner farmers and secure their farming in better ways than before.

We are proud to say that BGF has conducted sufficient research to ensure they manage their plantations and tree planting with their partner farmers in a balanced, sustainable, and economical manner.

Better Globe Forestry Ltd (BGF) is our forestry partner in Kenya that grows the tree seedlings you donate, and with help from partner farmers, takes care of them so they grow into big and strong strees.

BGF was incorporated in Kenya in 2004 and in Uganda in 2009 with the vision to eradicate poverty and corruption in Africa. Its mission, through Social Entrepreneurship, is to plant as many trees as there are people on this planet, and thereby finance a sustainable implementation of the vision.

BGF's core expertise lies in commercial dryland afforestation and in-depth knowledge of living and environmental conditions in semi-arid areas. As such, it is well positioned to anticipate and mitigate effects of climate change in East Africa, in a commercially sustainable way.

BGF's plantations are divided into two categories:

• classic tree plantations on leased land, and
• Trees planted with partner-farmers on their land, with wide spacing to allow intercropping with food crops.

The advantages of working with partner farmers are obvious:

• no cumbersome lease agreements or land deals,
• no investment in heavy machinery,
• farmers can continue to farm their land for food crops grown alongside the trees, and lastly,
• farmers are many.

In 2020, BGF worked with more than 15,000 partner farmers, and employed 170 members of staff, and 300 - 400 casual workers, depending on the season. As a policy, BGF offers career opportunities to young graduates of local learning institutions such as Eldoret University and Londiani Forestry College.

BGF has quarterly published the MITI magazine since 2009, which is the most successful and authoritative tree business magazine in East Africa. MITI is used as reference material by foresters and other scientists, farmers, tree customers, students and all those in the tree, timber and related industries.