Investing In Our Planet: WeForest & FCI London

At FCI, we take a keen interest in social responsibility. We try to invest our time, energy and money in a transparent way that really makes a difference to the communities where the projects take place. As April is Earth Month, it's the perfect time to talk about one of the projects close to our hearts: the WeForest initiative.

WeForest is a non-profit organisation committed to restoring forests and protecting biodiversity in areas affected by deforestation. Their projects aim to combat climate change by growing trees that help to absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

To date, our contribution as a company has grown 13,894 trees and restored 7.41 ha. WeForest has multiple initiatives in several countries, but our focus is on funding two key projects in the Mara and Copperbelt regions.

Both regions have been severely impacted by deforestation due to agricultural activities, mining, and urbanization. The tree-planting projects have not only been successful in reducing carbon emissions and mitigating the effects of climate change, but their agroforestry efforts also provide benefits to local communities such as food security and income generation.

The WeForest Mara Project

The initiative in Mara, a region on the banks of Lake Victoria in Tanzania, is one of WeForest’s longest-running projects. Established in 2011 when WeForest was only a year old, the project initially supported the production and distribution of seedlings from nurseries to rural people and institutions that needed them the most. As it grew, it began to support farmers and local community organisations to develop agroforestry systems. Today, it is evolving into a Forest and Landscape Restoration project by protecting and restoring the surrounding Butiama hills.

Investing In Our Planet: WeForest & FCI London

The WeForest Copperbelt Project

The Copperbelt: Forests on Farms project partners with farmers to protect and regenerate degraded forests and create incentives through forest-friendly livelihoods like beekeeping. The project began in 2015 in Luanshya, Zambia, before expanding into neighbouring Mpongwe and Ndola in 2021. In the future, expansion plans include a new community forest restoration component in Imanda.

WeForest works with three Farmers’ Associations in the region: Luanshya Forest Commodities Association (LFCA), Mpongwe District Farmers’ Association (DFA) and Chinchi Wababili Women Farmers’ Association by providing support that will enable them to take over their own income generation programmes.

WeForest's Global Reach

WeForest is now up to 81 million trees growing globally - an immense achievement! Their planting methods include the Farmer-Managed Natural Regeneration (FMNR) technique, which involves regenerating trees from existing roots, and direct seeding, where tree seeds are planted directly in the ground. These trees are already making a significant contribution to the climate crisis, but WeForest is thinking even bigger.

They're taking a leading role in growing the 1 trillion trees needed by 2030 to reverse global warming and restore biodiversity and water to sustain life on Earth. Their overall goal is to help stop global warming in our lifetime.

By investing in sustainable initiatives, all of us can play a significant role in mitigating the effects of climate change and promoting social responsibility. If you'd like to support WForest or find out more about what they do, you can read more here.