In celebration of Earth Day, sustainable agriculture nonprofit Trees for the Future (TREES) recently announced that they have planted more than 200 million trees around the world. Over the past three decades, tens of thousands of farmers have planted the trees on their own land in conjunction with TREES agroforestry training.
The milestone was made possible with support from thousands of individual donors and more than 300 brand partners, including Nixplay. Nixplay’s commitment to sustainability started in 2017 when they launched Smart Frames for Sustainable Forests initiative. For every Nixplay Smart Photo Frame sold, one tree seed is planted in Sub-Saharan Africa to combat hunger, poverty and deforestation in their communities.
As part of their efforts, Nixplay has helped plant 764,470 trees, restored more than 191 acres of forests and helped support 1,539 people on the path out of hunger and poverty.
“We’re thrilled to be part of the impact our contributions have made through our Smart Frames for Sustainable Forests initiative,” said Mark Palfreeman, CEO at Nixplay. “And we are not done yet and will continue to actively participate until the cause is no longer.”
The 200 million trees are planted in more than 50 countries and they are all part of thoughtful agroforestry systems. More than 76 million of the trees are part of what TREES calls Forest Gardens, strategically planted and diverse farms consisting of thousands of trees and dozens of plant and food species.
“We are ecstatic to reach this milestone, it’s a memorable step in our mission to create a more sustainable food system while planting trees,” says Executive Director John Leary. “We could not have done this without the hardwork and determination of the farmers we serve, the talent and dedication of our global staff, and the unending generosity of our partners and supporters, like Nixplay. The important and unique thing about these 200 million trees is that they are here to stay because they were planted with the climate and landowner in mind. These trees will continue providing food or resources to these farmers for years to come and, at the same time, they are restoring our environment by bringing back biodiversity, channeling water into the ground, improving soil fertility, and continually storing carbon in the soil.”
“TREES, through its Forest Garden Approach has added new varieties of trees, vegetables, food and nutrition base to my family,” says Tanzanian farmer Salma Mussa. “This program is good and will keep sustaining my family forever.” (Read Salma’s story here.)
TREES will celebrate its 32nd anniversary this year and is expanding into more countries in the coming months. Learn more about their work at trees.org.