STIHL has been supporting our work with financial resources, equipment and know-how since 2017. This year, we are pleased to announce the largest joint project so far. Within the next three years, we will reforest areas in Indonesia and Uganda exclusively for STIHL. This reforestation project will bind around 120,000 tons of CO₂ from the atmosphere.
The smallholder farmers involved in this project will apply our proven agroforestry approach, in which fast-growing indigenous lightwood species are planted together with various food crops. The sale of food and timber products creates short- and medium-term income opportunities for the participating farmers and their families.
Wolfgang Baum, project manager and CEO of Fairventures, appreciates the extended cooperation: “The people and the climate benefit equally from the partnership with STIHL. It enables us to expand the planting activities, which means we can support more smallholders in Uganda and Indonesia. At the same time, even more CO₂ is absorbed from the air and stored in the trees.”
The harvested lightwood timber will be used to strengthen sustainable value chains. It can be further processed – into plywood, for example – and used in lightweight construction. This will relieve the pressure on existing forests. In the construction sector, climate-damaging building materials such as concrete, steel and cement can be replaced and the CO₂ can be stored in the long term.
The first planting season for the project in Uganda was completed in October. Around 270,000 seedlings which were raised in local tree nurseries have been planted on an area of more than 130 hectares. The seedlings are fast-growing indigenous tree species such as Musizi, which are ready for harvesting after about 10 years and can be used in the timber construction sector. During this first planting phase in Uganda, we worked together with 291 smallholder farmers.
Between January and June 2023, around 60,000 seedlings are to be planted on an area of at least 75 hectares in cooperation with around 100 smallholders in Indonesia. These seedlings are currently being raised in local tree nurseries.
In addition to the reforestation of smaller areas in cooperation with smallholder farmers, reforested larger areas in Indonesia also contribute to the climate impact of the overall project. For this purpose, our sister organization Fairventures Social Forestry has already reforested larger, contiguous areas in a commercial model together with local communities and continues to manage these areas.
To monitor the success of the plantings, the TREEO app is used. With this app, it is possible to record the location of each tree planted. In addition, growth can be tracked and the stored CO₂ in the biomass can be calculated.
Johannes Schwegler, founder of Fairventures and managing director of Fariventures Digital, describes the benefits of monitoring with TREEO: “With our TREEO app, we achieve a whole new level of transparency: on the one hand, the single tree monitoring app provides data that we can use to continuously optimize planting activities and provide targeted advice and support to smallholder farmers. On the other hand, we have the opportunity to show STIHL exactly and comprehensively where the trees are located and how much CO₂ is stored.”
STIHL representatives recently took a look at how the project is being implemented in Borneo, Indonesia. Among other things, they visited some planting areas and spoke with the smallholder farmers involved.
“It was a very impressive trip with many great experiences that will have a lasting effect. We learned about Fairventures’ agroforestry approach on the ground. I am convinced that the trees not only bind CO2, but also create a sustainable livelihood together with and for the local people,” says Philipp Kreil, rainforest project coordinator at STIHL.
By supporting reforestation projects, STIHL is making a climate contribution to counteracting emissions that are currently still unavoidable. For more information on STIHL’s sustainability strategy, visit: https://www.stihl.com/Sustainability.aspx