Reforest native trees, empower women healers

Climate week is this week, and it couldn't have come at a more auspicious time. We've seen our Earth up in flames over the past few months, as if the Earth is speaking to us the only way she knows how, urging us to take action to protect our planet if we want to continue to inhabit it. It started with the ferocious fires in the Amazon, but happening congruently are the fires in the Congo Basin in central Africa. 

Greta Thunberg, the 16 year-old climate crisis activist, has taken the world by storm by saying unapologetically what most people are shy at admitting: what we face is not just climate change, it is climate crisis. We are living amidst the fifth mass extinction occuring on the planet we inhabit. The last mass extinction was during the reign of dinosaurs, and the extinction was largely caused by an asteroid. This time, the asteroid is us: our species has taken for granted the delicate balance of ecosystems that keeps us, and everything around us, living. 

But, Greta Thunberg, as well as many climate scientists, and the thousands of people that are doing small-in-scope but massive-in-impact eco-restoration projects, are firm in the conviction that while yes, what we are facing is a crisis and we must stop sugar-coating that fact, we also have a chance to save what we have. 

That's where our work comes in. Study after study shows that our best weapon in the fight against the climate crisis is not some high-tech technology. Rather, it is the support of advancing what nature does best: growing and regenerating itself. One way we can do this is the planting of trees in a way that mimics the natural growth of ecosystems. 

For us, this is not new. In northern Uganda, we have been at the forefront of planting trees to mimic the natural Ugandan landscape: giving the ecosystem a little boost to restore itself. We were planting native trees at a time when it wasn't yet 'cool,' and before it was common knowledge that native tree species has more of an impact in guaranteeing crop harvests and soil restoration and the creation of microclimates that ensure rain fall. We're happy that this low-tech, high-impact solution is consider 'cool' now, and that farmers and organizations and governments alike are all hopping on board to utilize agroforestry, biomimicry and 'smart reforestation' to give our earth a chance. 

And as for us? We will never stop in our mission to spread the ecosystem-saving solutions that agroforestry, agroecology and tree planting provides to landcspes across the globe. 

Our team on the ground in Uganda continues to conduct climate change adaptation programs to the people affected the most by the climate crisis: small scale farmers that depend on the land they till for their livelihood and the wellbeing of their villages. Our team on the ground continues to distribute important tree seedlings to farmers throughout the region, while providing important follow-up to ensure those trees are growing happily and healthily in their new homes. Our team on the ground continues to preach what we believe is a worthy gospel: our Earth is the only home we have, and we must restore it to ensure that the millions of species, including our own, can continue to exist. 

So, this climate week, we encourage you to do everything in your power to take the climate crisis seriously, and to take the necessary steps to live a sustainable and regenerative life. 

Agroforestry and tree planting in the tropics is our most powerful tool to mitigate the climate crisis. Support us, and small organizations like us, to make croplands more resilient, and give the power back to the smallscale farmers that are doing the gruntwork of keeping our planet healthy. 

With love from Northern Uganda to you,

The Native Seeds Project