Protecting and creating pollinator habitat
It’s our mission to help the bees - not only the European honeybee, but the 20,000 species of bee in our world. And this is really important because pollinators and their habitat are key parts of the matrix of life that we all depend on.
They need safe places to safely gather nectar and pollen. So we’re partnering with organisations that are doing amazing work protecting and regenerating habitat, and supporting farmers to create safe places for pollinators.
Over the next decade we believe this approach will lead to literally billions of new flowers for our pollinators to forage on. And it might just help to save some of them from the brink of extinction.
Our Partner Projects
BEE FRIENDLY FARMING
BFF is a low-cost certification program that works with farmers and gardeners to preserve pollinator health. Overseen by a taskforce of experts including scientists and farmers, BFF sets standards for sustainable land management.
FOCUS: Habitat protection and agriculture reform
PROJECT LOCATIONS SUPPORTED: USA & Australia
EDEN REFORESTATION PROJECTS
Eden works with impoverished communities, providing stable job opportunities in reforestation, sustainable agroforestry and forest protection. They plant around 20 million trees per month around the world.
FOCUS:
Reforestation, poverty alleviation
PROJECT LOCATIONS SUPPORTED:
Madagascar, Mozambique, Nepal, Ethiopia
ONE TREE PLANTED
Working with reforestation partners across 43 countries, OTP planted 10 million trees in 2020. Many of their projects focus on working with local communities to transition from destructive land management practices toward a sustainable economy for both people and the land.
FOCUS:
Reforestation
PROJECT LOCATIONS SUPPORTED:
Australia, USA, Indonesia, New Zealand
WORLD LAND TRUST
WLT saves and restores the world’s most biologically important habitats, and to date has funded the protection of more than 2,351,275 acres. Working with a network of trusted conservation partners, who enlist the help of local indigenous communities, the land is protected in perpetuity for wildlife.
FOCUS:
Habitat protection
PROJECT LOCATIONS SUPPORTED:
Central and South America
YAKUM
Working with indigenous communities in the Amazon rainforest to build cultural, medicinal and food sovereignty, YAKUM carries out reforestation work using carefully selected native tree species and territorial resource mapping.
FOCUS:
Reforestation, working with indigenous communities
PROJECT LOCATIONS SUPPORTED:
Amazon Basin (Ecuador)
HOMETREE
Up to 80% of Ireland was once covered in native wildwood. Yet today it is the most deforested country in Europe. Hometree works to establish and conserve permanent native woodland, encouraging land regeneration and biodiversity through afforestation, restoration and education.
FOCUS:
Native reforestation
PROJECT LOCATIONS SUPPORTED:
County Clare, Ireland
REFOREST NOW
With a team of scientists, bush regenerators and nurserymen, ReForest Now work for immediate and effective restoration of critically endangered rainforest. They also produce various resources for working with endangered species.
FOCUS:
Rainforest reforestation
PROJECT LOCATIONS SUPPORTED:
Northern Rivers, NSW, Australia
RUMPUN BAMBU
We're supporting communal forest protection and development for community water reserves and bee habitat at Iboh Tunong.
FOCUS:
Forest protection
PROJECT LOCATIONS SUPPORTED:
Aceh, Indonesia
RAINFOREST INFORMATION CENTRE
RIC is a grassroots nonprofit organisation dedicated to the protection of the Earth's remaining rainforests, in partnership with indigenous and local communities who depend on them.
FOCUS:
Advocacy
PROJECT LOCATIONS SUPPORTED:
Ecuador
Want to help the bees?
Today – as we face climate, pollution and extinction crises, with insect populations and overall biodiversity in drastic decline – a commitment to the regeneration of the natural world has never been more important.
We are delighted to be partnering with some of the world’s best reforestation and conservation projects, big and small, to help create a bright future for pollinators, people, and the planet.
Why?
- Our planet is at the start of a sixth mass extinction in its history.
- Crucial insect populations are in drastic decline worldwide.
- Over 420 million hectares of forest have been destroyed worldwide since 1990.
- Protecting or re-establishing healthy forest provides forage for pollinators, preserves biodiversity, sequesters carbon, prevents soil erosion, filters water, reduces flooding, provides sources of food and medicine for humans, and more.
Our Ethos
PREVENTING DEFORESTATION:
- Preventing deforestation and mitigating its upstream causes is usually preferable to planting new trees. However, addressing the systemic causes of deforestation (poverty, agriculture, pasture, firewood, logging, mining, infrastructure, policy, climate change) is often a difficult thing to accomplish.
- When choosing tree-planting organisations to partner with, we preference those that also work to reduce deforestation rates.
- Protection of existing biodiverse habitat is often comparable or even preferable to planting new trees in terms of impactful outcomes.
- We work closely with our suppliers to ensure only sustainably sourced timber is used in our products.
REFORESTATION:
- Reforestation is usually preferable to afforestation (ie: trying to create new forest).
- It’s essential that appropriate tree species are planted. Native species are typically preferred, and some projects also plant trees that have sustainable agroforestry uses. Diversity of species is essential – monocultures are to be avoided.
- Replanting tropical rainforests and mangroves are among the more effective ways to draw down carbon.
- Planting on tundra, savannahs, or drained peatlands is inadvisable. Planting in cold temperate regions is controversial as it can reduce the planet’s albedo and hinder cooling.
- Plantings must be appropriately managed, maintained and protected for the long term – the years after planting are most important.
- Projects that seek to inflate their impact metrics (eg: by planting more trees than are necessary in a given area or by destroying natural regeneration) are to be avoided.
WE AIM TO SUPPORT PROJECTS THAT:
- Involve local and/or indigenous communities, recognising their right to give or withhold their free, prior and informed consent to developments that will affect them.
- Demonstrate high levels of transparency, effectiveness, and accountability.
- Achieve a 2-year sapling survival rate of 80% or higher for new tree plantings.
- Work to protect trees/habitat in perpetuity (in legal terms this means a minimum of a century). Long-term land tenure is key.
- Don’t utilise highly hazardous pesticides in their restoration work.
To learn more about our impact activities, CLICK HERE
