Taking climate action with the EF Forest Initiative and WeForest

Planet

Taking climate action with the EF Forest Initiative and WeForest

April 5, 2024

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Lush green landscape with scattered palm trees, reflecting pools of water, and a dramatic cloudy sky at sunset.

Photos courtesy of ©WeForest, Corrie Mauldin

Key terms

Carbon sequestration refers to the process of capturing and storing carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere.

Agroforestry is a sustainable land management approach that integrates trees, crops, and occasionally animals on the same piece of land. This method enhances biodiversity, conserves resources, and promotes ecological balance while supporting agricultural productivity.

Smallholders are farmers who manage a relatively small piece of land for crop cultivation (typically less than one hectare).

We developed the EF Forest Initiative to take positive climate action through the creation and conservation of forests in some of the most important ecosystems in the world. Our newest partnership takes a holistic approach to conservation in East Africa.

Deeper roots for our EF Forest Initiative

Our latest partnership in our EF Forest Initiative is with WeForest, a climate change non-profit focused on reforestation and community engagement. The partnership will regenerate 1,500 hectares (roughly the size of 2,100 football fields) of smallholder farmland through tree planting in the Mahale Mountains National Park region in western Tanzania. In addition to growing and nurturing three million native and non-invasive trees over the next five years, the project is focused on protecting vulnerable local ecosystems and strengthening local communities through educational programs.

Our work with WeForest represents the next stage of the EF Forest Initiative that began in 2021. Since then, we have planted nine million mangrove trees in Kenya, Madagascar, and Mozambique together with Eden Reforestation Projects – completing that work in late 2023.

Environmental impact for biodiversity hotspots

In the Mahale Mountains, unsustainable use of natural resources is driving deforestation and forest degradation. To combat this, our partnership will focus on conserving and regenerating forests, including growing three million trees.

Growing trees has long been championed as a strategy for carbon sequestration, biodiversity conservation, and ecosystem restoration. Trees naturally help remove excess carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. They also provide a stable habitat and food supply for numerous species of wildlife.

The Mahale Mountains are a unique biodiversity hotspot, home to the largest remaining population of eastern chimpanzees, as well as elephants, lions, giraffes, and hundreds of other important primate species, birds, and other wildlife.

Mahale Mountains in Tanzania
Photos courtesy of ©WeForest, Corrie Mauldin

Local community support through agroforestry and education

Beyond the clear environmental benefits of conserving vulnerable forests, this unique program will engage closely with the local communities and deliver educational programs on land management to smallholder farmers in the region.

In total, the program aims to train roughly 1,500 farmers from 15 local villages in agroforestry techniques that promote sustainable land management and protect the forest ecosystem.

Women in particular will benefit from the initiative, receiving training in agricultural best practices that can help increase their household incomes and improve their family’s standard of living.

“We are very excited to begin this intensive agroforestry project in such a critical, dynamic landscape as the Mahale Mountains. With the support of EF Education First we will be able to improve the local ecosystem and also the lives of many farming families in this forest landscape." 
Corrie Mauldin - Agroforestry Advisor, WeForest

Learn more about our partnership with WeForest

trees planted in the first phase of the EF Forest Initiative in Kenya, Madagascar, and Mozambique

trees to be planted in the next phase of the EF Forest Initiative in the Mahale Mountains in Tanzania

1,500

hectares of land regenerated as part of the program in Tanzania

1,500

farmers trained in agroforestry in the region