Photo of the Week: Planting trees in Cite Soleil, Haiti

About this photo

In partnership with Sustainable Organic Integrated Livelihoods (SOIL), we have been working to “close the loop and transform the poop.” Part of this effort involves tree planting and educating the local youth.

In this photo, Haitian children in Cite Soleil learn about caring for the environment by planting trees using Ecosan compost. This special compost, produced by SOIL, is created using innovative composting toilets. The sustainable and environmentally friendly “humanure” compost is changing the way Haitians look at sanitation, agriculture, and natural resource management.

(Photo credit: SOIL 2013)

Guest Blog: SOIL and TWP Work Together to Plant Trees in Haiti

by Monica Roy, Sustainable Organic Integrated Livelihoods (SOIL)

Sustainable Organic Integrated Livelihoods, or SOIL, is one of our reforestation partners in Haiti. In this new post, Monica Roy provides an update of the 10,000 Trees for Haiti project that donors helped us fund at the end of 2012.

It’s been quite a year so far for SOIL! Among our many activities, we’re currently building a new office for our Cap-Haitien team in order to be closer to the SOIL farm and to reduce our long-term operating costs, we’re continuing to scale up our innovative new social business model for providing affordable sanitation services in Haiti’s most impoverished urban communities, and we’re transforming over 20,000 gallons of human waste every month into rich, organic compost critical for agriculture and reforestation. We sell some of the compost to support our ongoing sanitation activities, but some of it is used at our tree nursery to grow healthy trees.

Thanks to the support of Trees, Water & People, SOIL’s reforestation projects in Haiti continue to have a positive impact on improving food security, increasing rural incomes, and fighting soil erosion.

We’re happy to announce that we’re now almost halfway to our goal of planting 10,000 trees. There were a few hold-ups figuring out the best strategy to plant trees with a higher rate of survival (those pesky goats!), but we are on track to finish planting by the end of the year. So far, we have collaborated with the Scouts of Haiti, schools, community organizations, and our neighbors near the farm. There has been lots of positive feedback and a growing wait list for people interested in planting trees in their communities.

In the SOIL nursery, we focus on seeding fruit trees, which provide so many additional benefits beyond just re-planting Haiti’s largely deforested land. Not only will these trees help stabilize soils, they will also provide shade, food to eat, and an income for local people.

In the coming months and years, we will continue working with schools, community groups, and entrepreneurs to plant more and more trees in ecologically vulnerable areas such as mountainsides and mangrove terrain along Haiti’s coastline. We’re committed to ensuring that not only are we planting more trees every year, but also that we’re following up to make sure those trees have a lasting positive benefit for Haiti’s soil, environment, and people.

We’re very excited to continue this work with Trees, Water, & People and we thank everyone in Haiti and around the world that have supported this effort.

Partner Update: Growing Trees of Hope in Haiti

By Leah Nevada, Sustainable Organic Integrated Livelihoods (SOIL)

Sustainable Organic Integrated Livelihoods, or SOIL, is an organization that Trees, Water & People partners with to plant trees in Haiti. Here, Leah Nevada, provides an update of the 10,000 Trees for Haiti campaign that donors helped us fund at the end of 2012.

In February, SOIL worked with the Scouts of Haiti to plant 800 trees in the northern Haitian community of Madeline. Additionally, we worked with 35 members from seven local community organizations in Trou du Nord in the Nord’Est region of Haiti to plant almost 900 trees. We strive to ensure trees are not only planted, but also kept alive and healthy. At every planting event, SOIL provides training on how often the seedlings should be watered and how to ensure healthy tree growth.

Follow-up visits to the planted seedlings showed positive results, but also a few trees in need of more care. SOIL is now working with the Scouts on an action plan to make sure that all trees are well taken care of and SOIL agronomists have been meeting with tree growers to promote farmers’ cooperatives and farm-based businesses designed to improve rural incomes. Out of the remaining trees left at the SOIL nursery, jointly funded with Trees, Water & People, 1,500 seedlings, including many rare and native species, are being transplanted at our beautiful orchard and more tests are being done on the optimal amount of EcoSan compost (“humanure”) or urine (an important source of nitrogen!) to use. We are currently planning which types of seedlings to plant in order to reach the 10,000 tree goal.

Trees in Haiti are more than just a seed in the ground – they provide nutritious fruit for families and they prevent soil erosion and flooding. People work hard to keep these trees growing in the face of drought and grazing animals, and when the trees reach the age of bearing fruit, it’s cause for celebration!

Photo of the Week: Plant Trees, Save Lives in Haiti

About this photo

In Haiti, it is estimated that only 2% of the natural forest cover remains. Rampant deforestation has caused extreme environmental degradation, human health problems, and economic turmoil.

In partnership with Sustainable Organic Integrated Livelihoods (SOIL), we are working to reforest areas of northern Haiti. Our partners at SOIL work with local communities to plant trees that not only improve soil and watershed health, but also provide nutritious food and extra income for families – a win-win for people and the planet!

In this photo, local school children are helping to plant seedlings from the SOIL nursery near Labadee, Haiti. The children learn about natural resource conservation while helping to improve the land with tree planting.

To support reforestation projects please visit www.treeswaterpeople.org/plant_trees

(Photo provided by SOIL)

Notes from the Field: Haitian Tree Nursery Thriving

by Monica Roy and Claire Frohman, Sustainable Organic Integrated Livelihoods (SOIL)

It’s January and the slightly cooler weather has made the SOIL farm in northern Haiti a very pleasant place to be! The nursery is as green as ever: full of avocado, cashew, orange, breadfruit, moringa, and mangrove trees. We have started collaborations with local community groups to plant the first batch of trees. This is the first community reforestation event of many more to come!

In addition to getting ready for community planting days, the SOIL nursery staff are also busy setting up a tracking system to document where all the trees are going to be planted. This system will allow for easy follow-up and tree care support as necessary over the coming year, as the trees get established in the ground, and will continue to do so in the many years to come, as the trees begin to green the mountainsides of Haiti!

All the trees will be planted using rich, organic compost generated by SOIL’s eco-toilets from the urban Cap-Haitien community of Shada. In order to celebrate the SOIL “poop loop” cycle of toilets to compost to tree planting, tours are being organized of the SOIL farm for Shada’s eco-toilet users.

Click on photo to enlarge.

We’re excited to provide the people of this urban community the chance to come out and see the positive impact that their toilets are having on Haiti’s environment and even more excited by the prospect of bringing our project full circle: where there is enough space and motivation, we are planning to plant some trees from our nursery in and near the households of our toilet users in Shada!

Stay tuned for more updates and thank you to all the generous donors who have supported this project.

Update: “10,000 Trees for Haiti” Project Funded

Thank you to everyone who donated to the 10,000 Trees for Haiti project! With your help, we will be able to continue a very strong partnership with Sustainable Organic Integrated Livelihoods (SOIL), our Haitian NGO partner on the ground. Together, we will keep the tree nursery in Labadee, Haiti going through 2013, providing nutritious fruit trees to local farmers throughout the year. Not only do these trees provide fruit for their families, they also provide extra income to farmers who can sell the produce at market. In addition, these trees will diversify crops, improve soil quality, and help keep local watersheds healthy.

The best part about this project: all the trees are planted with “humanure” from SOIL’s dry composting latrines! The 10,000 Trees for Haiti project is “closing the loop and transforming the poop” in Haiti. This truly is sustainable agriculture at it’s finest.

We will continue to provide you with updates from the nursery throughout the year, so stay tuned!

Photo of the Week: Trees Bring Hope to Haiti

Mesidor Adline and her family planted cashew, orange, and papaya trees with seedlings from the SOIL/TWP tree nursery in northern Haiti. Learn how you can support the tree nursery at www.treeswaterpeople.org/10000trees

Happy World Toilet Day!

Did you know that 1 in 3 women worldwide live without a toilet?  In Haiti, only 10% of rural populations and less than 25% of those in cities have access to adequate sanitation facilities, by far the lowest coverage in the Western Hemisphere.

We are working with Sustainable Organic Integrated Livelihoods (SOIL) in Haiti to “close the loop and transform the poop”! This project uses “humanure” from SOIL’s EcoSan composting toilets to fertilize thousands of fruit trees that will be sold to local farmers for soil improvement projects and as a nutritious source of food. We need your help to fund this project. Every donation you make will be matched dollar for dollar!

Click photo to enlarge

New Video: 10,000 Trees for Haiti

 

Photo of the Week: Reforest Haiti

TWP partners with Sustainable Organic Integrated Livelihoods (SOIL) to plant thousands of trees in northern Haiti. And, what’s better then solar powered irrigation in a tree nursery?

Want to help us reforest Haiti? Click here to learn more and donate.