Clues

Cryptic clues in italics

Across

1. Best used well-seasoned to stay warm (8)

6. Long-lived Mediterranean tree known for its oil (5)

8. Cut off the top and branches to encourage new growth (7)

10. Found inside plums (6)

11. Spiky South American tree is simian mystery (6,6)

12. 'Live, love leaf' could be ITF's new one! (5)

15. Site of infamous felling (8,3)

18. Invasive bush found in Kenya and other parts of Africa (7)

19. Ideal soil for tree planting (4)

20. Nuts known as 'marrons' in France, used in cooking (9)

21. Prickly savannah tree found in our logo (6)

23. Robin's old stomping ground (8)

28. Grows vigorously (7)

29. We tell the age of trees with confused grins (5)

30. Left inside sacred companion for ivy (5)

31. Spread your bets and argue to create a bushy field divider (8)

32. Holm oak, for example (9)

33. Sits above family and below class in tree classification (5)

Down

2. Oddly, I contain main barrier to tackling climate change (8)

3. Winnie the Pooh character who lived in 'The Chestnuts' (3)

4. Sounds like the police in America making a small woodland (5)

5. Excitement of a bumbling pollinator (4)

7. Climbing plant whose fruit makes wine (4)

8. Main job of a leaf (14)

9. Stage when an apple is ready to pick (4)

13. Small tree coppiced for making hurdle fences (5)

14. Prehistoric tree found growing in New South Wales in 1994 (7,4)

16. In biological taxonomy this comes after phylum and before order (5)

17. Iconic tree in Constable’s landscapes (3)

22. Mythological ‘world tree’ in Norse culture (3)

24. National park famous for ponies with plans to increase woodland (6)

25. Where Beverley Pippin and Annie Elizabeth usually live (7)

26. Tree-____: a bird or other animal that lives in trees (7)

27. Yearns intensely for coniferous trees (5)

28. I hear it’s the moment for a garden herb (5)

My first experience as a cemetery curator was at the Ivry Cemetery, just outside Paris. When I stepped into the role in 2010, I’d never been handed so much autonomy or responsibility. After taking some time to settle in, I gradually modified a number of internal procedures and set out to improve archive conservation. My team and I digitised all records and overhauled the system for organising concessions. It was nothing exciting, but I wanted to do right by my cemetery and manage it to the best of my ability.

To me, the cemetery’s natural elements were just a managerial headache. While its 1,900 trees were no doubt beautiful, all I saw were the piles of leaves the groundskeepers would have to rake and the complaints that might land on my desk as a result. And although I noticed the cemetery was home to a wide variety of birds, including what looked like parrots, I was primarily concerned with the droppings that littered the benches and tombstones. In those days, biodiversity was the least of my worries, and my environmental awareness was limited to recycling.

In 2011, Paris City Council passed a biodiversity plan calling on Parisian cemeteries to reduce their pesticide use. For decades, maintenance crews had sprayed walkways with weed killer whose stated goal was to destroy any wild plant that had the audacity to grow between gravestones. Each spring, the weeks-long crusade required workers to show up in full-body protective gear, and the treated sections had to be temporarily closed to the public. Only after the green areas had been sprayed with chemicals would they be deemed “clean”, i.e., lifeless. The result met user expectations and matched my own understanding of cemeteries, namely that everything surrounding the deceased should be dead, like them. Any trace of life was seen as a sign of disrespect. Flowers were allowed, but only if they were in planters. Even then, most were only used once a year, on All Saints’ Day, for the traditional chrysanthemums. Flowers had their place - as long as that place was on the headstones.

Naturally, the Cemetery’s grand avenues were lined with majestic trees and shrub beds. Greenery was not, however, encouraged to flourish inside the confines of its forty-seven divisions. Only one was designated as “landscaped”, meaning that a few trees and shrubs had been planted between the graves. It represented an acceptable level of disorder within a cemetery whose rows of graves were aligned with military precision. In other words, it was the touch of whimsy that proved we were open-minded and not overly rigid.

When it came time to enforce the new pesticide-free policy, my knee-jerk reaction was “Why are we doing this? We’ll be swamped with complaints. We’re a cemetery, not a park!” But my teams and I didn’t have a say in the matter, so we played along to placate our superiors and elected representatives. At their request, no chemicals would be used in three of the cemetery’s designated pesticide-free divisions. We didn’t realise it then, but a small revolution was taking root.

The transformation process took four years, during which time my attitude and that of my colleagues changed radically. As the years passed, more divisions were designated as pesticide-free. We received help from a consulting agency, purchased machinery and other equipment, trained groundskeepers in new maintenance techniques, seeded divisions that proved difficult to regreen, and brought in a landscaping company to gradually grass over the sidewalks.

Meanwhile, cemetery staff were so inspired that at the end of 2014, we made the decision to stop using pesticides across the entire seventy-acre site. What could explain such a radical shift? It was the green. The power of green. It goes without saying that green paths are prettier than dirt or gravel paths. Once we surrendered our chemicals, the cemetery began to change before our eyes, becoming an oasis of foliage bursting with natural beauty. The groundskeepers, whose work had always been considerably undervalued, also experienced a shift in their role. Up to that point, they had toiled thanklessly in the shadows. Nobody gave them a second thought unless there was a problem: if there were piles of leaves, dirty toilets, or overflowing trash cans, the groundskeepers weren’t doing their jobs. The pesticide-free policy thrust these workers into the limelight by giving them a chance to play up the site’s aesthetics. They gained visibility by trading in their weed killer for lawn mowers. Visitors began to admire the grounds in the wake of their efforts, and the groundskeepers started to take pride in their work. In the end, those four years taught us a beautiful lesson: how to balance respect for the dead with respect for life.

On a personal level, I credit the zero-pesticide policy with opening my eyes to the cemetery I managed. As the paths greened over, so did my attitude. I became fascinated by the rainbow of wildflowers: the deep-blue grape hyacinths, the bright-yellow lotus, the orange marigolds, and the lizard orchids that smelled strongly of goats. The cemetery began to feel more like the countryside, and I was increasingly aware of how lucky I was to exist inside this bubble of biodiversity wedged between the high-rises of the Parisian suburbs. As wildflowers proliferated, they attracted butterflies, bees, and other insects. A new ecosystem was emerging.

And yet, I lacked the knowledge to fully appreciate the transformation unfolding before my eyes. My field of expertise is the funeral industry; I didn’t know much about plants and animals. It was a chance encounter with Pierre, one of the cemetery’s regular birdwatchers who lived nearby, that changed my outlook forever. Our paths crossed one afternoon, and the amateur ornithologist took the time to explain his observations and what they meant for the area’s biodiversity. It dawned on me that the cemetery was home to an exceptional array of wildlife, and I wanted to learn more. From then on, whenever I walked the grounds I would look beyond the gravestones to watch titmice, starlings, blackbirds, ring-necked parakeets, woodpeckers, and other birds flitting from tree to tree.

In 2017, to my great surprise, we were joined by a new group of playmates. After six years of transformation to promote biodiversity, a family of foxes took up residence in Ivry Cemetery. You can imagine our pride! We took their arrival as the reward for our efforts to make the cemetery a place not only for the dead but also for life. Suddenly, I found myself photographing foxes and their kits, hedgehogs, squirrels, and even tawny owls in my own backyard. I could scarcely believe it; although I’d grown up in the countryside, I was seeing more wild animals in the city than I ever had before. My pictures of wildlife began to pile up, and I found it hard to keep my newfound treasures to myself. I wanted to share them with other people and shed light on this aspect of the cemetery…. On June 3, 2017, @la_vie_au_cimetiere was born.

In early 2018, I learned that my colleague and fellow curator at the Montparnasse Cemetery had decided to retire. After spending eight years at Ivry, I felt ready to move on. I was itching to manage a cemetery within the city limits, one that presented the additional challenges of being a heritage and tourist site. Managing Montparnasse also meant managing its satellite cemeteries, including Passy, which may have the highest ratio of famous residents per square foot in the city. I applied for the job, hoping I’d get it. Unfortunately, my boss called in early April to tell me another of my colleagues had been chosen. “It’s a shame, but...” He went on to say that the curator of Père-Lachaise was planning to retire around the same time and that he wanted me to apply for the job.

I’m frequently asked how one becomes curator of Père Lachaise. I always reply, “By accident.” And yet, deep down, I’ve often wondered if it was my destiny. I’ve never believed that our fate is written in the stars; a life without surprises would be too sad. But I have to admit that, looking back, it does seem like an invisible hand gave me a nudge - two nudges, really - in the right direction.

With thanks to Greystone Books for this adapted extract from The Secret Life of A Cemetery by Benoît Gallot. This article first appeared in the 82nd Issue of ITF’s journal, Trees.

I think of Mercy, ITF’s Kenya Programme Manager, who truly understands the needs and aspirations of local communities in Kenya and who always takes the time to listen, particularly to women, to understand their priorities. I think of Edwin, who lives near Mount Kenya, whose incredible IT skills and problem-solving mindset are helping us develop online monitoring tools for the planting work we are doing across Africa, so that we can say, hand on heart, that together we’re having an impact. And Esther, leading on communications and has been tirelessly telling the story of what we do and why it matters – helping our supporters better understand the work on the ground and bringing more people into our wonderful community of tree lovers.

Each person in the team is deeply and personally committed to ITF’s mission, often working late and spending long hours on the road to reach communities that are on the frontline of the climate crisis. I feel very lucky to be part of that.

It was fantastic to reach our Big Give appeal target this Christmas, and it sets us up to do more work, hand-in-hand with local communities in Africa, to restore forests. I end the year with huge gratitude for all your support this year – and for the trust you place in us. We take that responsibility of trust incredibly seriously, working with ITF’s volunteer trustees to ensure that every pound is carefully stewarded.

We are hearing from more and more communities, in Africa and in the UK, who want to work with us. My hope for the year ahead is that we can say ‘yes’ to more of them – working hand in hand with local people to restore forests, strengthen livelihoods and bring nature back where it is most needed. We will do this and doing so with care and integrity, keeping communities at the heart of everything we do, as together we plant lasting seeds of hope.

Join our global community of people planting trees

Help us say ‘yes’ to more communities and plant more trees, restore more forests and work hand in hand with more people. Become a supporter to day.

Across Uganda’s degraded hillsides, the land is barren and broken. Strong winds tear down homes. Landslides claim lives. Rivers burst their banks, destroying everything in their path.

“The hills are too fragile and the land is too bare, it is prone to landslides and soil erosion.” says Elda Masika, a tree planter. “We depend on agriculture as a living. It is leading to hunger and low standards of living.”

But there is hope and it grows from the ground up.

Alpha Women Empowerment Initiative (AWEI) is one of ITF’s longest standing partners; we’ve been planting trees with them since 2015. Based in Kasese, Western Uganda the women of AWEI are restoring their land and and rebuilding their futures.

Preaching the gospel

“People did not know the advantages of trees and the disadvantages of cutting down trees. So, Alpha came in to preach the gospel,” says Margret Masika, AWEI’s chair. “We told them that trees give us oxygen and give us rainfall.”

“Trees help to bind the soil particles together and control soil erosion,” adds Elda. “They act as wind breakers, and when the wind blows, it does not affect the crops that are planted under them.”

Together, we’re planting trees in forests, farms, schools and homes — and bamboo along the River Nyamwamba to stop it bursting its banks. “The bamboo has started growing and binding the soil,” says Annet Kamalha. “In the future, flooding will be controlled.”

Beyond tree planting

Beyond improving their landscape, the women of AWEI are helping to uplift other local women. “Women here were so poor, without a way to earn a living,” Margret explains. “Now, we are training them in vocational skills so they can support their families.”

Jetrida from Nyakazinga village received pawpaw trees thanks to AWEI and has been selling the fruit. Recently she earned over 600,000 Uganda shillings. The money has helped her to buy iron sheets, which she’s going to use for roofing her house.

AWEI are also establishing women-led tree nurseries which supply healthy local seedlings to the planting sites. “Women have been able to learn tree nursery management, which helps them to earn a living.” says Elda. “We also trained them to graft mangoes and now people are coming to them to be trained too,” added Margret. “Which also helps them to earn a living.”

Kitchen gardens are climate-smart, gardens which grow vegetables, fruits and herbs in small spaces, improving food security, nutrition and creating income. Thanks to training and starter kits, kitchen gardens are feeding families. “Children used to suffer from several diseases because of lack of nutrition,” says Margret. “But now it’s no longer a big problem. Though we still need more support to establish more kitchen gardens in the community because not everyone was able to get them.”

In Kasika village, Eunice put her kitchen garden training into action and started growing aubergines, onions, tomatoes and cabbages. “She was able to harvest vegetables and sold them in the market, earning 150,000 shillings,” says Annet. “This income helped her to pay fees for her children. And also buy other seeds.”

‘Community members are still in need’

Already, AWEI’s work has transformed lives — but there are still so many families “knocking on our office door looking for support,” Margret tells us.

“I appreciate all the support you have given us. Without it, we could not have managed to implement all the activities that we have. But we need more support because we cannot manage to reach all the community members that are still in need.”

This Christmas, we want to raise ÂŁ40,000 to restore forests and transform lives through the power of trees. Your gift of ÂŁ40 could help Margret and the women of AWEI grow and plant 20 trees, restoring nature and giving women a way to earn a living. Please, will you give this Christmas and help plant trees and grow futures?

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Join us this Christmas with a donation that restores nature, protects landscapes and transforms communities.

]]>Planting trees and growing futuresBlog postJames Whitehead, CEOThu, 27 Nov 2025 11:22:19 +0000/news/i-love-alpha6197abe80515bc685501422b:6197b4ee11e30c1a9bd38801:692831505156ba24be578213On the far western edge of Uganda lie the Rwenzori Mountains. From the district town of Kasese you take a road that follows the Nyamwamba River and then turns into an unpaved road as it begins winding up into the mountains. The road gets more challenging and precarious as it continues to make its way up the steep-sided hills. The views as you climb are stunning – the Great Rift Valley below vanishes into the distance and the mountains behind keep rising. At around 3,000 metres above sea level you’ll reach Mbunga and will find a one-roomed office with a tin roof. This is the base for Alpha Women’s Empowerment Initiative (AWEI), the women’s group that we have been working with since 2016.

You’ll meet Margret and the team who run Alpha. They’ll explain the day-to-day challenges that they and others face in this part of the world – the low tree cover that has destabilised the soil and the subsequent landslides that have destroyed houses and taken lives. They’ll explain the difficulties of farming and making a living and the effects of climate change. But they’ll also share their vision to restore the landscape – to create space for nature and improve the situation for their neighbours, particularly women, in the villages that are scattered across these hills.  

And if you follow them on one of the paths that lead away from Mbunga they’ll also show you signs of hope. You’ll see the trees and bamboo that have been planted to bind and secure the soil. In the farms, you’ll be able to pick a mango from a tree that is now bearing fruit and know that it will be sold for a profit in the local market. Vanilla is being grown to generate extra income. You’ll see the community-run tree nurseries, energy efficient cookstoves being used to prepare family meals and kitchen gardens to support daily needs.

The Alpha team are a dedicated, committed, resourceful and remarkable group of women. We are proud to work with them, bringing our expertise and guidance, but also learning from them so that together we can support long-lasting change in parts of the world that are at the frontline of the climate crisis.

And we know that it is only through the thoughtful generosity of our supporters that we can enable that their restoration vision to flourish.

 

Donate today

Trees sustain life on Earth. This Christmas, you can help plant trees that provide for today and restore nature for tomorrow.

]]>I love Alpha!Samuel Muhindo, Western Uganda Project OfficerFri, 21 Nov 2025 15:37:41 +0000/news/from-fire-to-flooding6197abe80515bc685501422b:6197b4ee11e30c1a9bd38801:692043067488445e475b29b6The Rwenzori Mountains are sometimes referred to as the mountain of the moon. On the border between the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda, these mountains host diverse landscapes from snow-capped peaks to lush montane forests and moorlands. But decades of deforestation means that vast areas of the land are prone to floods and landslides. Samuel, ITF’s Western Uganda Project Officer shares how ITF is working through local partners AWEI.

The land in this region is fragile characterised with floods, landslides and mudslides, that has caused an average of 5 people dying every year.

One of the major environmental disaster was in 2012, when a fire broke out in the Rwenzori National Park. I was 23 years old, I first heard about this fire on Facebook and on Messiah radio. But then, later I could see the glow of the fire on the mountain every evening, from 22km away.

Jackline, 14, lives in Kasika Village, where devastating landslides tore through the community

We could see the flames, the bush burning and a lot of smog in the sky even at a distance. Hundreds of scouts from the Rwenzururu kingdom joined the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA)and Uganda People’s Defence Force to manually fight the fire.

The fire burnt for about three months, burning over 4,700 hectares approximately 6% percent of the entire park. The fire destroyed a lot of vegetation, killed wild animals and birds and exposed the land.

There was never an official communication of what could have caused the fire outbreak, however UWildA suggested that the fire could have been set up by poachers during the dry season. The community felt so sad and frustrated, they expressed their anger towards the local leadership for having failed to put in place preventive measures.

From fire to flooding

The outbreak of the fire on Mountain Rwenzori national park left a large area of land bear. Floods, landslides and mudslides are now commonplace and taking lives each year.

Not long after the fire, the River Nyamwamba flooded. The very first time I heard and witnessed these floods was 1st May 2013 during the celebrations of international labour day.

Now the River Nyamwamba floods twice a year – in the two rainy seasons of March to May and August to October. It generally bursts its banks five times a season.

But it wasn’t just the fire. Human activities like construction, settlement, sand mining, river bed catchment have also affected the rivers natural flood barriers – reeds and bamboo. In Kasese district, more than 60 people have lost their lives due to the mudslide and floods in the last decade.

Planting a solution

ITF is working with Alpha Women’s Empowerment Initiative – a local community group who are restoring the landscape and creating sustainable livelihood opportunities for women.

AWEI is located on the slopes of the Rwenzori mountains, just nine kilometers away from Rwenzori National Park, they are playing a key role in trying to mitigate the causes of flooding and help those who have been victim to it.

They have been planting bamboo along the banks of the river and the streams that feed it, to help bind the soil and stop the river bursting its banks. Starting in 2023, over 471 community members and 11 institutions have been involved in planting over 23,000 bamboo.

And it is already having an impact. The bamboo planted so far is growing well and has started binding the soil along the river banks making it strong and will help in protecting the river floods from encroaching the banks of this river and the neighbouring landscape.

But they haven’t finished yet. AWEI plans to plant at least 200,000 bamboo along the River Nyamwamba and along other streams that feed into it. Alongside this they are training people in their community about importance and uses of bamboo and trees to the landscape, how to plant them and protect them and how to restore and respect the local landscape.

But there is still need to extent their services to other community members that have not yet benefited. We need to plant more bamboo and trees in more neighbouring villages and sub counties because the River Nyamwamba passes through many villages. There inadequate government funds to support environment conservation, we need your support today to help restore and protect this precious landscape. Thank you.

Donate today

Your donation today can help plant trees which prevent future catastrophes. Join Samuel, Jackline and the women of AWEI to restore landscapes and lives.

]]>From fire to flooding, the degradation of the Rwenzori MountainsStephen Barber, ITF TrusteeTue, 18 Nov 2025 14:33:05 +0000/news/planting-trees-to-restore-the-future-of-ugandas-mountains6197abe80515bc685501422b:6197b4ee11e30c1a9bd38801:691c80276053c42552a8a8b4Daniel Misaki lives in Western Uganda between Queen Elizabeth National Park and the Rwenzori Mountains National Park, two beautiful, mountainous but deeply degraded landscapes. Daniel shared with ITF his journey from poacher to environmentalist

Daniel is from a family of poachers in Uganda. His parents, friends and community went into the parks illegally. Some to poach animals, others to cut down wood to make charcoal. For many, poaching wasn’t a choice, it was the only way to earn a living. It’s Illegal and dangerous and some of his friend’s lost their lives resisting arrest by armed wildlife rangers.

But the loss to the community goes even deeper. “With the decreasing forest cover here we are now experiencing landslides because our area is mountainous,” says Daniel. “Rainy season is now described by landslides and floods. Homes are being blown down too, including mine. Without the trees wind travels with a very high speed, clearing everything that comes across its way. Every year we are burying people.”

A generation ago, farmers could grow and sell enough food, like beans and maize, to provide for their family and pay their children’s school fees. But now, crops are failing. When he was growing up “we used to be forced to eat our food because it was plentiful, but today we are forcing our children to stop eating.”

Depend on trees

“The whole water cycle depends on the trees,” Daniel says. “They help form the rain, store it in the soil and push it back to the atmosphere. Because we don’t run irrigation-based farming, we are depending totally on rain and without rain everything is failing. Then the high impact is on livelihoods. We're a farming community.

“With the deteriorating forest, we are now starving. Farmers cannot actually afford to pay fees for their children and the school dropout rate is increasing. In our African continent, especially in the Ugandan culture, it’s the men responsible for providing food, the standard of living. Because some men cannot afford the daily food for their homes, they are tortured and men are taking their lives. For example, in Karambi where I live, two people die by suicide every year.”

The deteriorating forest also puts women’s lives at risk. Traditionally, women would go into community forest land to collect firewood for cooking and heating. “Now the community forests have been depleted, they are going into Queen Elizabeth National Park. But it’s illegal to go there,” says Daniel. So criminals target and follow them into the park, where the women are sexually assaulted. But “she can’t come back to the community and report she was raped, because she would be jailed for illegally entering the park,” even if her violator were prosecuted. 

As a child aged ten, Daniel was already cutting wood and making charcoal, which he would sell for 4,000 Ugandan shillings a sack. Demand was weak then, because wood was so plentiful, but today, because of population increase and diminished resources, one sack of charcoal costs 40,000 shillings, a ten-fold increase.

Changing mindsets

While still a teenager, Daniel started learning about environmentalism and his whole life changed. He knew he wanted to be a conservationist. He started a wildlife club at school to mobilise other students. Then he went to a college that specialised in wildlife and natural resource management.

Now twelve years later, at just 29 years old, he has founded and leads Ihandiro Youth Advocates for Nature (IYAN) - an organisation dedicated to promoting the sustainable use of natural resources and turning the tide on the degradation and poaching in his community.

“Our mission is to promote the sustainable utilisation of the natural resources in the Rwenzori region,” says Daniel. How, he asks, can IYAN ensure there are sufficient resources for the next generation to use? “We have three objectives. First is restoring these degraded landscapes. Number two, we are working around clean energy, going into the production of ecostoves.”

He notes that even a fast-growing tree that reaches maturity in five years will only last one family a week without an ecostove. But an ecostove uses just a third the wood of a regular stove meaning “you can cut the wood consumption”. Ecostoves allow much more efficient production of heat for cooking and anyone can be shown how to construct them out of waste materials such as bricks, car parts, machinery and roofing.

His third objective is championing the promotion of sustainable livelihoods. This means finding ways to incentivise people not to go to the park to cut wood and sell it for food. And crucially, by discouraging poaching and illegal wood collection, IYAN will be saving lives and radically reducing the risk of women being assaulted in the park.

Daniel believes that change starts with educating the children. By teaching children about the delicate balance of our planet, not only will a new generation grow up respecting trees and promoting the environment, they will go home and tell their parents, helping to transform the mindset of the whole community.

With support from ITF, Daniel and IYAN have planted over 6,000 trees within 10 schools in Nyakihumbu with a population of over 7,000 students. They have also helped to install over 200 eco stoves, which are given to community families via the students. Trees that provide shade for students to sit under, stop dust, clean the air, provide fruit and valuable teaching opportunities, from potting, planting, tree maintenance and helping to expand the tree nursery. “We are concentrating on changing the mindset of these children,” says Daniel. “We're creating that feeling where someone says, the environment belongs to me.”

One success story is a student called Mbusa Seiz, who was so inspired by Daniel’s work at his school he went on to get his Bachelor of Science in Agriculture. He is now working to help mitigate the worst impacts of climate change on agriculture.

'We need trees'

Daniel is seeing the change in the wider community too. “Now with scarce rains, people can see there is rain in the national park, where there are trees. But it doesn’t touch the community land. So people have seen it practically that where there are trees there will be rain. We have now started to plant trees in the homes of these children because the parents were like, ‘we need the trees, you're telling us not to go to the park, but we need the trees so that we can have the branches from these trees’. In the March to June planting, we planted 15,500 trees.”

People are coming to understand that when, for example, the Prunus africana or African cherry — Daniel’s favourite tree — is lost, a vital source of medicine is gone. “This is a herbal tree indigenous to this region that is protecting the lives of our sisters. Also for overcoming conditions like prostate cancer, infertility. I have it in my garden. I take it on my birthday and I take for tea when I have stomach problems. I’m one of the conservationists who value the traditional knowledge, because in my experience it 100% works. But it is endangered because it has been invaluable for its quality charcoal.”

Daniel is especially keen to build local capacity by bringing community leaders on board and understand the need for climate action. These are locals elected to positions of leadership through the trust of the community, which gives them a powerful platform from which to influence hearts and minds for the better.

Daniel’s family love trees as much as he does. He has a wife and two children, a boy and a girl. “They have been part of my journey and they have seen how someone can transform from a poaching family background to international conservation.” They are proud that he was awarded one of the top five WWF Africa Youth Conservation Champions awards and participated as a youth delegate at the Africa Wildlife Summit among other impressive qualifications.

Turning invasive species into energy

For the future, his vision is for IYAN as a youth-led organisation, with a focus on his clean energy programme. He wants to promote commercial briquette production and “utilise invasive species that are in our national parks and then turn them into energy”. This serves two purposes. First it creates space for wildlife to browse in their own territories rather then entering the communities for food. Second, “we can create affordable energy for these homes that are using wood every day, so this one of my big dreams. So we are expanding the integration of sustainable livelihoods within landscape restoration.”

The main invasive species in the Queen Elizabeth National Park are the sicklebush (Dichrostachys cinerea) and the candelabra tree (Euphorbia candelabrum). “So these two species are not edible. They are alien and they have conquered the whole grazing area for animals and especially the big herbivores like elephants do not have an area to graze,” so they forage in the community. “More than 50% of the park is occupied now by these invasive species and you know they have a tendency to adapt to the drought that is currently happening and to kill the other native species.”

The authorities have tried to dig out these two species with tractors, but it’s not commercially viable. So Daniel’s plan is to turn these invasive plants into briquettes for use as cooking fuel commercially. And the removal of these species and use as fuel will restore grazing land for local fauna. At the same time, “once we have an alternative source of wood, all the trees that we are planting in the communities will survive because now they're being cut for wood. So it's about giving the community a substitute and then we let our trees grow in the community.”

Daniel fervently believes that once all his strategies are in place his community will be transformed. “Nyakihumbu will be a peaceful community where we shall not have gunshots,” he says. “When we hear gunshots, it's not a war, it's just another poacher that has whose life has vanished in a struggle for livelihood.

“It's my dream that once we do this, we have a community living in harmony with nature and our children start to really understand that conservation is not a threat. Conservation is meant for all of us — the balance between conservation and livelihood by provision of alternative. I believe our children will inherit a world that is exactly our grandparents left it to our fathers, which they were not able to protect,” because they had no alternative.

Daniel’s conviction is that his vision is both viable, sustainable and critical to the future of human and animal life in this part of Africa.

 

Donate today

When trees are recklessly cut down, ecosystems are destroyed and crisis takes over. But it’s not too late. Planting trees now can reverse the damage, restore balance and protect the future for people and planet. Join Daniel in conserving Uganda’s precious mountains with a donation today.

]]>Planting trees to restore the future of Uganda’s mountainsBlog postOpinionJames Whitehead, CEOThu, 30 Oct 2025 12:42:22 +0000/news/when-restoration-goes-wrong6197abe80515bc685501422b:6197b4ee11e30c1a9bd38801:69033f7543172e05443fe855Learning from setbacks is central to effective restoration and every project teaches us something new about climate, community and resilience.

Earlier this year one of ITF’s supporters asked me what has gone wrong, or performed less well, and what have we learnt from it.

This simple question caused me to reflect on the fact that we often highlight the successes – the forests restored, livelihoods strengthened and communities thriving. But every success story is built on lessons from the challenges that came before. I want to share a few recent examples of a few challenges and how at ITF we’re using them to learn, adapt and improve our impact.

1. Fire at bahati forest – planning for climate risk

At the start of this year, it was unseasonally dry in Bahati Forest, Western Kenya. At five o’clock on the evening of the 20th of February, a fire broke out. Of the 49 acres that the community had painstakingly replanted, 12 acres were destroyed before the fire was brought under control.

While we couldn’t have prevented the fire itself, the damage could have been reduced with wider firebreaks and planting of more fire-resilient species along the edges. Since then, we have developed a climate risk tool to put mitigation measures into every project from the outset.

We also drew on ITF’s Tree Survival and Sustainability Fund, a kind of restoration insurance scheme, to replant those lost seedlings.

2. Tree nurseries – defining what ‘good’ looks like

For years, ITF has supported the creation and strengthening of community tree nurseries. Through hands on training from ITF staff, they have flourished. But we realised that we hadn’t provided any clear written guidance on what 'good' looks like, from propagation, to record keeping and seedling care.

Without that, we were unintentionally holding communities back from achieving excellence. So, we developed the Tree Nursery Maturation Standard, a practical guide that outlines the pathway to improving all areas of nursery management. Now, nursery teams can see at a glance where they’re strong and where they can grow.

3. Partnering for success – learning to listen and assess

In one small pilot project, we found that a community partner had less presence on the ground than expected, despite our initial assessment. The result was a frustrating back-and-forth that delayed results for everyone.

We reflected with the team on what we could do differently. Now, before bringing a new partner on board, we spend more time alongside them on the ground, observing leadership styles, gauging the depth of trust with the wider community. We triangulate this with perceptions of local leaders and other due diligence and map capacity gaps that can be strengthened. This deeper engagement is helping us identify and support the right partners who truly reflect the community’s vision.

Hurdles make us jump higher

We will keep hitting hurdles and challenges, that’s the nature of restoration work, especially as climate change makes nature less predictable. What matters is how we respond. Each setback makes us a better, stronger organisation.

Openness and learning are core value for ITF. I hope these examples paint a picture of some of the challenges we face and how we overcome them.

 

Tree Survival and Sustainability Fund

The unprecedented challenges of climate change makes restoration more urgent and yet more challenging. Help ensure trees thrive wherever they are planted with a donation today.

]]>When restoration goes wrong and how we put it rightJames Whitehead, CEOFri, 26 Sep 2025 09:36:58 +0000/news/season-of-splendour6197abe80515bc685501422b:6197b4ee11e30c1a9bd38801:68d65cbcdc5fa53a78908726This autumn promises to be a memorable one. 2025 is shaping up to be a ‘mast year’, one where trees like oak and beech are producing a surplus of nuts and seeds; and it is set to be a spectacular year for autumn colours.

Mast years are an elegant evolutionary strategy and occur every 5 to 10 years. It is likely that the pollination conditions in April created the right conditions. The warm, dry weather may have enhanced flowering success and pollination meaning that those trees are producing a super-abundance of nuts and seeds. The animals, like squirrels, mice and jays simply can’t eat all the fallen nuts and seeds – biologists call it ‘predator satiation.’ Producing so many seeds demands extra energy from trees but when the conditions align, it pays off. We should expect to see far more oak saplings pushing through next spring than would usually be the case.

The backdrop to this natural spectacle is a summer that smashed records. Provisional figures from the Met Office confirm that the summer of 2025 was the warmest on record in the UK with a mean temperature of 16.1 °C, which is 1.51 °C above the long-term average. The Met Office estimates that outlier hot summers like this are seventy times more likely due to greenhouse gas emissions.

However, those warm months have created the conditions for the autumn display to be particularly pronounced this year. Heat and sunshine intensify the production of sugars in leaves, which, as trees shut down for winter, create vivid pigments of red, orange and yellow. We are also experiencing a ’false autumn’ – leaves turning and berries ripening earlier than they would due to the stress of extreme summer conditions.

When I walk or cycle through the countryside, I am often alert to the quiet warnings that nature is under pressure: insect declines, pesticide drift, river pollution and drought-stressed trees – a walk in nature can end up being a cataloguing of environmental decline. Yet I am also caught off guard by the beauty, intricacy and interconnectedness of our natural world, especially in a season like this. Perhaps the tension between concern and wonder is our common challenge today.

As the evenings draw in, perhaps we need to remember to pause, look up and appreciate the blaze of autumn while it lasts. In this ‘season of splendour’ there is space to care more and also to be amazed.

 

Stand up for nature

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]]>Season of splendourPaul Kihato, Africa Programme Support Officer.Wed, 17 Sep 2025 15:29:12 +0000/news/how-avocados-are-transforming-lives-in-embu6197abe80515bc685501422b:6197b4ee11e30c1a9bd38801:68c93b693009d96a05e25597At ITF, we know that trees have multiple benefits in addressing socio-economic and ecological challenges facing many communities and landscapes in Africa.

Trees play a critical role in providing for household needs such as food, fodder, herbal remedies, firewood and building materials. And in protecting landscapes from soil erosion, droughts, floods, strong wind as well as combating climate change. High value fruit trees such as avocados, mangoes and macadamia are doing all this and helping to improve community livelihoods as sources of revenue for farmers.

Since 2020, ITF has supported communities in Embu County in Kenya to grow avocado fruit trees. Embu county stretches from mountains with high rainfall, through to hilly areas with moderate rain and warm temperatures and lowlands with hot, dry conditions. Grafted avocado varieties especially Hass and Fuerte have uniquely thrived in all three zones.

Plentiful harvests

With limited sources of revenue due to dwindling income from tea and coffee sales, avocado farming has become a sustainable source of household income in Embu. ITF has worked with local farmers to grow these high value fruit trees. I recently visited ITF project sites in Embu County to collect annual production data and hear about the positive impact the trees are having for farmers.  

Both the Hass and Fuerte varieties start producing fruits as early as three years old and can continue to do so for more than 30 years. The first harvest will produce 50-100 avocados. But by the time the tree has matured, the Hass avocado will yield about 500 avocados and the Fuerte variety about 1,000 fruits per tree. These bountiful crops provide farmers with a reliable source of income with which they can care for their families and enhance their wellbeing.

Julius Rugendo, a project beneficiary proudly showed me his seasonal sales records from the latest harvest where he harvested 25,000 avocados from 50 trees. He told me how his life has greatly improved since he is now able to pay for his children’s school education thanks to the sale of his crop.

A growing demand for quality seedlings

During harvest season, avocados are so plentiful that each household may eat up to 10 fruits per day, while a further 300 are sent to friends and family members. To maximize yield, farmers are also integrating avocado trees in their tea and coffee plantations.

However, avocado trees are now in such high demand, we need to build the capacity of local community nurseries so they can produce enough high-quality seedlings to meet the demand.

 

Donate today

You can help expand this project and help more farmers grow life changing avocado trees which will provide food and income for today while protecting our planet for tomorrow.

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