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In the decade since its founding, Treedom has grown 3 million trees across the world. The B-Corp is growing fast, with 1 million trees planted in the last eight months, and a 10 million euro ($11 million) Series B funding round secured in October from some of Italy’s most influential business people, as well as greentech investor and former F1 driver Nico Rosberg.
Head of forestry Martina Martina, who has worked in setting up Treedom’s partnership with the NGO AMKA to support women’s involvement in agroforestry in Guatemala, talks about how the social and economic benefits of tree-planting projects can go hand in hand with environmental goals.
Treedom’s projects are mostly based in countries in Africa and Latin America. Why did you choose to focus on those regions?
We started abroad because [Treedom] founders were working on environmental projects in Cameroon, where they witnessed illegal logging and the impact of deforestation. The loss of biodiversity and climate change are particularly visible in tropical and subtropical countries, and that’s where our action is most needed.
How do you go about selecting the projects to offer those who want to fund them?
We always try to have a bottom-up and a customized approach, because different places have different environmental needs. We need to find the right solutions for the right place—the same model is not usable for, say, Honduras and Nepal. We usually discuss in-depth with our partners about logistics, tree nurseries, seedling production, drafting, water tank, timing for the program, training for the farmers, etc., etc. Those kinds of activities take quite a long time. We also usually travel a lot, even if in the past it’s been a bit difficult, it's important. Even if we have local partners there, we need to monitor both remotely and in person.
What happens if a natural disaster destroys one of your projects, as happened last summer with some of the forests that were part of companies’ carbon offsets?
We’ve already faced numerous challenges—what we do is to always try to be prepared. We don’t produce carbon credits, that’s not part of the business. We manage small-scale projects, so it's easier to take care of those activities instead of having a giant forest. We are producing extra trees in our tree nurseries. We have plenty more trees than what we are going to sell, so we can replace the trees that might die. My approach is to have a Plan A, Plan B, Plan C, Plan D… Whatever may happen, we have a backup solution.
What goes into pricing the planting of a tree that people need to consider before, say, planting a tree for $1?
Planting a tree is not always a good idea. Planting trees requires thinking about the right trees for biodiversity, meaning not a monoculture, not extensive plantation or other destructive activities. We never just plant trees. We are growing trees, which is a totally different approach. We are also very focused on post-planting care, cultural care, training for farmers and other kinds of benefits, like building tree nurseries—which is not something that we do just for our projects, those activities are for our partners. We want to create an ecosystem that is sustainable, both in terms of environment and of the economy. This is why we focus on agroforestry. We do not want to plant trees just to absorb more CO2; we also have social and economic benefits for the people involved.
How does this approach advance gender equality?
We work in quite a few different countries and cultures, so we are cautious in our approach—we can’t tell people what to do, that's not how it works. We need to work together. Our approach usually is to give opportunities to everyone, both men and women, which is not necessarily common in some of those countries. Trees can offer such an opportunity, because it's [seen as a] very caring kind of sector, and care work is something that is usually seen as a woman’s job. So in almost every culture, taking care of trees is something that women are allowed to do. Once they’re involved in the project, they will receive training. They will acquire skills. They will have a better diet, thanks to the trees’ fruits. Also, they're going to sell fruits in the market, so they will earn a bit of money. Education and money are usually key to help women grow and give them the opportunity to learn, and face and overcome challenges, and have more confidence. It’s a process, but in the long term, we see that something is changing.
Martina Fondi’s answers were condensed and edited for brevity and clarity.
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