For every garment purchased, a tree is planted in India through the non-profit Trees for the Future.

Plant-a-tree Partnership

While almost one million acres of land in Assam, West Bengal, and other regions in Northwest India and Bangladesh get flooded regularly, the people of Tamil Nadu in southeastern India, 1000 miles away from the flood zones, are struggling with drought and a lack of fresh water. Trees have been cleared, erosion is stripping topsoil from farmlands, and little rainwater is channeled back into aquifers. In the end of 2004, the great tsunami hit Tamil Nadu causing further destruction to an already struggling region. 

While some sectors of Indian society have greatly improved their standards of living, life for the average farmer continues to be a struggle for survival with the vagaries of commodity prices and the weather, the high costs of pesticides and fertilizers, and declining yield. At the same time, common lands continue to be degraded, as overgrazing and fuelwood harvesting destroy the remaining fertility. 

Trees for the Future is working with farming communities, schools, and women’s groups through a network of local organizations to address the water crisis that is punishing the region’s agricultural production and the health of the people. There is interest in planting a variety of fruit trees, timber and non-timber species suitable for the degraded red soil - with the emphasis being placed on planting fast-growing, multipurpose species that are supplying a wide array of products while serving as barriers to minimize further erosion. 

About Trees for the Future

Trees for the Future is an agroforestry resource center, working with people to improve livelihoods and restore degraded lands to sustainable productivity through planting beneficial trees.

Through Trees for the Future’s network of technicians, volunteers, and community leaders world-wide, their program reaches out and provides the knowledge and ability to rehabilitate their environment.  Since 1988, Trees for the Future has helped thousands of communities in Central America, Africa, and Asia improve their livelihoods and their environment by planting nearly 65 million trees. We calculate that these trees remove over one and a half million tons of CO2 from the atmosphere each year.

After many years of informal operations, Trees for the Future was incorporated as a 501 (c) (3) public charity in Maryland on August 14, 1989. Over the years TREES has assisted thousands of communities in planting millions of trees, which have restored life to land that was previously degraded or abandoned. The trees provide food, fodder, fuel, fertilizer, and medicine for the farmers as well as biodiversity for the landscape.

For more information visit www.plant-trees.org