Don’t cut a tree this holiday season – give a Pemba Tree! Make a holiday donation to CFI and we’ll plant trees on your behalf. We’ll also send a holiday card quantifying your gift in terms of trees planted to a recipient of your choice. A great way to both give a gift and support environmental sustainability.
An example of a Pemba Trees Card, both front and back
For the past few years, our local director, Mbarouk, has been telling me about a small island off of Pemba called Kokota. Kokota is one of those places where you have to ask – how did people ever come to settle here in the first place. Although the land is fertile and the fishing is good, Kokota faces one major problem. They have no fresh water.
Over the next few years we plan to expand our programming to develop new and innovative climate-change proof technologies. We’re planning on rolling out a whole host of new initiatives such as beekeeping, alternative energy, earth block building and fuel-efficient cook stove production. In light of our new initiatives, I thought I’d head over to Kokota and see things for myself.
Fishermen off of Kokota Islet
Approaching Kokota
When we first arrived we were greeted by a gang of kids. Not in school I asked? No school here, came the reply. No water, no school and no medical dispensary. This island population of 500 was truly the forgotten. Government, development groups and NGOs had completely missed this isolated islet. As we walked up from the shore I quickly noticed the desperation. A pot was placed on a thatch roof to collect water. A single gutter stood alone outside a hut. All the wells that Kokota Islander have dug to date have turned up brackish seawater, unfit for drinking. I was told that people would make daily trips to Wete, Pemba, almost 4 hours away by wooden boat in order to collect water.
The Kokota Islet Welcoming Comittee
Rainwater Harvesting
More Rainwater Harvesting
I was told that the one person in town that could read and write would hold classroom sessions under a baobab tree. An effort was made to construct a school and the community had purchased bricks and assembled walls, but ran out of cash before they could put a roof on the structure. We talked to a group of women and quickly realized that trees, agroforestry and charcoal substitutes were far from people’s mind.
The Tree Serves as Kokota's Public School
And Here are the Students
As we left the island, I knew we’d found a new community to partner with. Trees and agroforestry will come in time but before that, we’ll put a metal roof on the school, collect rainwater and build storage tanks in order to store the thousands of liters of fresh water that fall from the sky during the rainy season. If people are going to plant trees and care for their environment, they’re going to need some drinking water first. Kokota, Community Forests International will be back.
-Jeff Schnurr
We’ve acknowledged your donations at http://forestsinternational.org/support/. Thanks to everyone who supported CFI this past year. Our reach has continued to grow thanks to your generous contributions. We couldn’t have done it without you!
Individual and Business Contributions
$10,000+
$1000-10000
The EU Delegation in Tanzania and the The Ministry of Finance – Tanzania support the organizations efforts in Pemba through the The Global Climate Change Alliance.
Brinkman and Associates Reforestation Ltd. supports Community Forests International through a company wide fundraiser.
The Finnish Embassy in Tanzania supports the Pemban Tree Planting Project through the Finnish Fund for Local Cooperation
The United Republic of Tanzania donates land to shehias (villages) for community forest management.
DIALOG supports projects in Canada and abroad by offsetting their carbon footprint in partnership with CFI.
Environment Canada funds the Acadian Forest Biodiversity Initiative through Ecoaction Community Funding Program.
Canadian Wildlife Foundation supports the Acadian Forest Biodiversity Initiative.
New Brunswick support the Summer Workshop Series through the Environmental Trust Fund.
Evergreen Canada funded the Community Food Forest project in Canada
Renaissance Sackville funded the Community Food Forest project in Sackville, NB, Canada.
Eco Canada supports CFI through the Environmental Youth Corps internship program.
YMCA Canada has supported CFI Interns through the Youth Eco Internship Program.
With the village of Memramcook and Abbey-Landry School CFI planted another 560 native trees in the Maritimes. What a hardworking bunch!
Each year tree-planters working for Brinkman and Associates Reforestation donate money earned by planting trees in Canada to support CFI’s project in Pemba, Tanzania. This year a whooping $21,348.78 was raised by planters in BC, Ontario and Alberta. CFI cannot thank these hardworking individuals enough – their commitment and passion inspires us to continue our work and the hundreds of Pembans who benefit from this contribution truly thank-you.
A special thanks goes out to John Lawrence, Judi Tetro, Neil Whan, Robin McCullough, John Beaton, Kyle Strong, Andy Cameron, Drew Nener, Matt Robertson and Timo Scheiber. John and the supervisors at Brinkman welcomed CFI staff into their camps, and this fundraiser would not have been possible without them.
For those of you who want to see what this fundraiser is all about, check out the video Zach Melanson of CFI put together while visiting camps across the country.
Please consider making a financial contribution – with virtually no administrative costs, even a small amount makes a huge difference. A dollar plants 5 trees, ten dollars will allow staff to travel to the field, providing technical assistance to hundred of Pembans, and a hundred dollars will pay CFP staff for two weeks. Thanks for your support, we couldn’t have done it without you!
Early Settlers Clear Land in NB (Photo from Fundy NP)
When Europeans first arrived in the new world, they brought an idea of ownership to the land. The right to own came through the right to improve – to break ground and subdue the natural world made one master of this new domain. The first land titles negotiated with the indigenous populations changed a right to fish, hunt and cultivate into an endless opportunity to change and alter the landscape. This change took place through interpretation. Native American’s had no notion that anybody, let alone the new Europeans could own the rights to change, alter and sculpt the land. They didn’t believe that the bundle of rights associated with a piece of land could be transferred with a signature from one hand to another. This notion of ownership was cultural. Boundaries changed from ecological demarcations. A place to fish, a place to hunt, and a meadow changed to a reference point on a land registry marked between neighbors, the compass and a surveying scope. This right to the land allowed for the modification of a landscape, to improve and alter the land as an individual, not as a community, or as a member of the ecological system as a whole. The land changed. A hill became a house, a meadow became pasture and the forest a woodlot. The title of ownership was for the individual and offered a right to a place against all others.
The natives often asked early settlers about the wood supply in Europe. One of the key drivers of Native American migration was the search for fuel wood and t
hey wondered if the new arrivals were forced from a land depleted and bare. And their intuitions were correct, early settlers often wrote about how even the poorest peasant could afford the warmth of the noblest Englishman, yet never did they imagine that this new land would someday reflect their lust for commodities, and hold the emptiness of endless desire.
I just spent a few weeks in Alberta connecting with Canadian tree-planters in order to garner support for our projects abroad, and as I fly across the country I see the landscape as a sea of fragmented parcels, each with the right to change and exploit. For with the new owners of the land also developed the idea of profit, commodities and a wealth that depended on having as opposed to not needing. These ideas didn’t exist within the landscape, but came with the people. These ideas were made, and the culture to change a landscape grew with the population that the land supported.
A Land Divided - Flying Over the Fragmented Landscape
As long-descendants from those who once changed a right to live in a place to a parcel of ownership, we are faced with new challenges. Our land-use practices have released carbon stored in the land and sea into the atmosphere, altering the sky above in reflection of the land below. We will never give back the rights once granted, we will never return to an agreement of ownership that sees ecosystem services safe from the reach of our practices, but we can create new rights and we can create a right to stewardship and landscape restoration. By using conservation easements, we can limit land use-rights and protect the trees, rivers and meadows that regulate our climate. We can value these acts of stewardship and build new relationships between the urban and the rural – the people and a place.
The historic relationships between community and forests are no longer sustainable. We are losing a fight against the hostile environment we created. The solution to climate change calls not only for the evolution of science, but the evolution of a culture. We must build new relationships with the land and support the forests we all depend on. We must work to put conservation easements on land, allowing sustainable farming and forestry practices to continue. We must support the loss of production by quantifying, valuing and paying for the carbon or ecosystem services these efforts sustain, and we must unit members of the carbon cycle to balance the greenhouse gasses we emit with those we store.
We must build our culture to reflect and value the natural world. We must learn from the past, and create a culture of conservation stewardship for the future. If you’d like to get involved with Community Forests International, please contact info@forestsinternational.org and help build the culture of conservation.
As part of our Summer Workshop Series, Community Forests International is hosting a workshop on raising native Acadian Forest plants. David Smith, founder of Save a Plant, will lead this afternoon session, guiding participants through the processes of identifying plants and trees that are indigenous to the Acadian Forest and raising these plants from seed or cuttings for personal use. Held in CFI’s newly constructed outdoor classroom, participants will be invited to put their seedling propagation and care techniques to use throughout the workshop. Instructor: David Smith, O.D.H. Founder of Save a Plant This afternoon workshop session is
Raising native Acadian Forest plants for home-scale landscaping – May 29, Sackville, NB
Date: Sunday May 29th, 1-3pm
Location: Sackville Community Garden, Sackville, NB
Participants will also benefit from David’s knowledge and enthusiasm for native plant landscaping. While amateur landscapers often look to exotic species to liven up their yards and community green spaces, indigenous plants are often overlooked for their aesthetic value. Over the course of the afternoon, participants will not only learn about growing and caring for native plants, but also how best to harness the aesthetic quality of Acadian Forest plants.
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To the friends, members and supporters of Community Forests International, I write to you now from Pemba as thousands of trees, helped by thousands of villagers begin their journey from seedling to forest. It’s the rainy season here, my favorite time of year. Months of hard work in the nurseries culminate during the rainy season when Tanzanians head to degraded parts of the island Pemba, and plant trees in an effort to improve their household incomes, and the natural environment they depend on. |
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As a result, the trees, the skills, the knowledge and the land we’ve toiled now belongs to the communities we work to serve. Although our long-term goal is complete financial sustainability, we do have monetary requirements and I’d like to sincerely thank those of you who’ve supported us along the way. If you’d like to help our cause, I urge you to consider a financial contribution. The gaps in our budget are often filled by those who can afford them the least – our dedicate volunteers, both Canadian and Pemban alike. |
 Speaking of fundraising, after two years of effort we’ve managed to raise the funds necessary to purchase a vehicle in Pemba. It’s been very hard to travel to rural Pemban villages without our own transportation and we’re all very excited for the flexibility a vehicle affords us. Thank-you to everyone that donated to the cause. |
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In Canada, Community Forests International is gearing up for a summer jammed packed full of sustainable forestry programming. We’ll be offering our Ecological Forestry Course again this year, as well as courses in Food Forest Gardening, Wildcrafting Native Plants, Private Land Wildlife Conservation, Mushroom Cultivation and the Selection and Propagation of Native Plants. Check our website often for updates on our summer workshop schedule. |
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Please circulate this newsletter. I thank-you on behalf of Community Forests International, all this is made possible through your continued support, |
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Jeff Schnurr |
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Ps – For those of you in the Sackville, NB area, we’re offering a tree-care and ecological landscaping service to support our charitable efforts. If you’d like to improve your own natural environment and help Pemba in the process, visit ecoscapeatlantic.com for more details. |
Spring is on its way! Spring is a time for planting trees both here in Canada and in Pemba, Tanzania. Please consider supporting Community Forests International’s tree planting endeavors here and abroad. Provide the following information and we’ll take care of planting community trees on your behalf. If you’d like to take part in the planting, Join us and our partners in Tanzania on MAY 28th. Let’s work together to make a difference
In recognition of the UN’s International Year of Youth, the Atlantic Human Rights Centre (AHRC) is hosting a panel discussion on Youth Leadership in Human Rights as this year’s Annual Dr. Abdul Lodhi Lecture in Human Rights. “Youth Leadership in Human Rights: What’s been Done, What You Could Do” will take place on Wednesday, March 16 at 7pm in Kinsella Auditorium. Panelists include Rumeet Toor, president of Jobs in Education; Tim Coates, executive director of 21inc.; and Jeff Schnurr, named one of Canada’s top five international volunteers by CBC and Manulife’s Champions of Change. For more information visit http://w3.stu.ca/stu/events/events_view.aspx?id=99600
