Building a forest for our future

23 March 2023

with every sustainably stylish piece you invest in from TREE, you are also investing in the future of our planet. with your continued support, as well as the help of our longstanding partner, Trees4Trees, we are delighted to have made a long-term commitment to transformational tree planting projects at Wonosari village in Central Java, Indonesia.

by focusing our efforts on Wonosari, located on the island from which many of our pieces originate, we aim to truly make a difference, bringing a canopy of benefits to this community and landscape in need.

here's to planting it forward!

the story so far...

did you know TREE Hong Kong has already planted almost 100,000 trees throughout Java? that’s about 257 football pitches or an area larger than Ap Lei Chau island, the home of our flagship store! these trees will capture around 21,590 tonnes of CO2 during their lifetime (enough to offset the CO2 released by a passenger flying around the world 5,100 times!)

TREE planting in 2020 was a year of challenges and achievements – read our bLOG post as we reflect on some of the lessons we learned as we continue to restore the village forests.

take a look at some of the species we’ve planted so far!

total trees planted: 98,190

our future promise

Wonosari, nestled in Central Java with a population of 79,950 (mainly comprised of farming families), has been severely impacted by environmental degradation and deforestation. this, along with a dependency on rainfall has limited farmers’ harvest to just once a year. this has, in turn, decreased their resources and income, greatly impacting their livelihoods.

our goal is to help Wonosari flourish through a combination of extensive tree planting (click here to discover the wonderful tree species we're planting in our forest!), education and training, creating a synergy between forests and farming, nourishing a sustainable environment and equipping the village community with the skills to maintain this landscape for generations to come.

across a five year commitment, we will...

plant 45,000 trees
we'll plant 45,000 new trees striking the perfect balance between new crops and conservation species.

provide training
training will be provided to our local farmers, equipping them to get the best from the newly planted crops, understand the importance of preserving our planet and helping them make their farming businesses profitable.
access new markets
farmers will be given access to new markets using the products of their newly planted crops.

our planting years

“the best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. the second best time is now.”
– Chinese proverb

May: the tree planting year. commences. our team visits Wonosari and meets with our farmers to establish requirements, allocate responsibilities and sign them up for training 

June/July: preparation of seedling nurseries. we set up the ground and seedling bags and build shade structures to give them just the right amount of sunlight

August: training of our field team, who works directly with the local farmers, allocating which species each farmer will plant, planting our seedlings and visiting our nurseries frequently to monitor progress

September/October: training farmers and planning distribution. our seedlings are in the late stages of the nursery process, exposed to more sunlight to give them the best chance of survival once planted in the field

November/December: after final preparations, our seedlings are delivered to each farmer to plant, putting their knowledge into practice with our field team on hand to assist 

January/February: our first round of monitoring is a critical period for seedlings to become more established. we closely track fields with low survival rates and replace any lost seedlings 

March/April: with a second round of monitoring, and three months after planting, any seedlings that survive past this point are considered established and added to our database. then the cycle begins again! 

a little about our tree planting partner

tewtt3we’re proud to have worked with the wonderful not-for-profit foundation Trees4Trees since our tree planting journey began. based in Indonesia, it partners with local communities to renew their environment through reforestation and education programmes. through work just as that taking place with our support in Wonosari village, Trees4Trees contributes to positive development across Indonesia, building community-based forestry and promoting sustainable forest management.

“TREE has been one of our earliest and most dedicated planting partners. over the years they have steadily made generous contributions in support of the environment and local communities where their products are sourced. our current project, the TREE forest will accomplish so much more, restoring not only deforested lands but returning the local community’s livelihoods as well. Thank you TREE!” – Devi Silvia, Trees4Trees

it simply wouldn’t be possible for us to plant thousands of trees every year and support villages in need like Wonosari without the help of our customers. from the heart and all of us at TREE Hong Kong, we thank you for your ongoing support.

want to track our journey so far? click here to discover where we have planted our trees.

as our tree planting year at Wonosari progresses, we’ll be sharing stories of the village, its community and our tree planting efforts. stay tuned – and be sure to subscribe to our newsletter for our tree planting updates!

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