RUKOKI, UGANDA.
We have expanded our work with Uganda's Alpha Women Empowerment Initiative (Alpha Women).
PROJECT GOALS AND ACTIVITIES.
Initially, working with 300 women and girls from four surrounding villages, this initiative integrates a regenerative approach that is not only helping to preserve a vital ecosystem but aims to enhance climate resilience, increase soil fertility, reduce erosion and landslides, and provide food, fuel, and income for the local population.
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Key Focus Areas:
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Forest Restoration and Establishment of Tree and Grass Nurseries:
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Developing nurseries to ensure a sustainable supply of trees and grasses for planting and regeneration.
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Community-led Agroforestry:
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Training women in agroforestry, Nature-led land restoration and environmental protection.
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Women in Leadership:
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Empowering women with leadership, team building, community outreach and sustainable livelihood training and skills, as well as training gender champions.
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Exchange Visits:
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Facilitating exchange visits to share experiences in tree planting and landscape restoration.
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Fruit Growing and Agroforestry:
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Educating women on fruit growing and incorporating agroforestry practices into their farming.
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Kitchen Gardens:
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Establishing kitchen gardens to improve nutrition and provide additional income sources.
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Tree and Bamboo Management:
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Training on the planting, protection, and management of trees and bamboo.
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Soil Erosion and Landslides:
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Providing education on preventing soil erosion and managing landslides.
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Low-Energy Cookstoves:
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Reducing deforestation by training women and girls to make and use low-energy cookstoves.
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Masika Margaret the Chairperson of Alpha Women said of the project:
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“In these areas of Uganda it is not traditional for women to own land nor to be the ones who plant trees. Alpha Women are helping train women to protect the forests and plant trees and to teach men that women can lead this work too.
We have already planted over 11000 trees. These trees will reduce the risk of landslides, provide fruit for food and cash crops for our community and provide a way to ensure mothers can keep their girls at school”.
THE SCIENCE:
Burning fossil fuels releases gases, such as carbon dioxide and methane, into the atmosphere. These gases trap heat from the sun, leading to the planet's warming and disrupting Earth's systems. Deforestation compounds the problem by releasing carbon stored in forests, preventing further carbon sequestration by forests and impacting the water cycles that provide rain to inland weather systems.
HEATING UP:
February 2023 to January 2024 was the first 12-month period with an average global temperature of 1.5°C above preindustrial levels. This 12-month period was also marked by numerous wildfires and extreme weather events.
CLIMATE CHANGE AND GENDER EQUITY.
Climate change disproportionately affects women due to underlying socioeconomic, political, and legal barriers. Gender-based cultural norms such as gender roles, domestic duties, and family responsibilities can hinder a woman’s ability to react quickly during a natural disaster. These same cultural norms also restrict access and exclude women from climate discussions and decision-making.
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Despite these barriers, women often have innate knowledge and expertise that can play a significant role in land and forest restoration efforts to mitigate climate change's impacts. Furthermore, women's contributions can support their communities in strengthening resilience against disasters and developing strategies to help families adapt to changing circumstances. Evidence shows that including women in decision-making and action planning improves community and climate outcomes. Women have a key role to play in climate solutions. Read more about why we centre women here.
Globally, women tend to take on more domestic and household-based roles. This means that in times of emergency, women tend to be within the home and may choose to remain there, a factor that directly contributed to 70% of the victims of the 2004 Asian tsunami being women.
(C) WECAN + SAFECO
(C) Yorenka Tasorentsi Institute.
WHAT WE ARE DOING.
TreeSisters supports communities, biodiversity and entire ecosystems - through this holistic approach, we aim to mitigate the impacts of climate change. Many of our project partners are located in places that experience extreme weather events and natural disasters linked to climate change.
Unfortunately, we are witnessing a concerning trend of more frequent and severe extreme weather events on a global scale, and some of our partners are feeling the effects. Within just six months, the project we support with Aquaverde and the Ashaninka people in Brazil has encountered both forest fires and flooding, endangering local people and threatening restoration efforts. As these extreme events continue to pose a risk, we are responding in the best way we can by listening to the needs of local people and taking an adaptable approach to our funding.
Our partners focus on working with local communities, original nations and indigenous peoples to restore forests and landscapes.
Our approach and impacts go far beyond the number of trees in the ground. They intend to rebalance power dynamics, support connections with Nature, empower women and champion the knowledge of those working directly with the natural environment they inhabit. All while reforesting and restoring our incredible natural world.
Trees provide numerous co-benefits for ecosystems and communities, including biodiversity conservation, soil erosion prevention, water purification, cultural cohesion and livelihood support for millions worldwide. We recognise the invaluable role of trees and communities in climate change mitigation and their role as critical components of global climate action.
(C) International Tree Foundation.
Forests can act as climate safeguards, sequestering carbon into the trees and the forest floor and stabilising local weather systems. However, deforestation exacerbates climate change. Removing trees releases carbon, prevents further carbon sequestration and impacts regional humidity and rainfall.
