Tree Aid works together with communities to find long-term solutions to poverty and the climate crisis, focusing on four key areas: 

• Restoring the environment: Tree Aid grows trees to protect the environment, supporting people to use trees to improve the fertility of the soil and sustainably manage land in a way that helps grow resilience to the effects of the climate crisis. 
   

• Protecting forests and land: Tree Aid grows trees for long-term change, campaigning for forests to be managed by the people who depend on them. By working with communities and local governments, Tree Aid can agree rules for using forests and their resources. 
   

• Building sustainable businesses: Tree Aid grows trees which grow businesses, supporting communities to make and sell tree products, like shea butter and soap. The income they make from their businesses pays for essential healthcare and education. 
   

• Growing nutritious food: Tree Aid grows trees for healthy food, all year round. Trees provide nutritious fruit, nuts and leaves, giving farming families stable supplies of food even when other crops fail. 

The Problem  

Across the Sahel, where Tree Aid works, over 350 million people’s lives are devastated by the reduction in fertile land and the climate crisis.

Tree Aid believes that tackling poverty and protecting the environment are inseparable and that’s why they empower local people to grow trees that provide food and an income, as well as restore and protect the environment. 

• 'Many of the people Tree Aid works with live in poverty and are forced to get by on less than $1.90 per day - that’s less than the average cost of a single cup of coffee in the UK 

• In 2024, Mali recorded the hottest day in its history (48.5°C) during an extreme heatwave leading to a number of heat-related deaths

• Between 2001 to 2023, Ghana lost 1.64 million hectares of tree cover (Global Forest Watch)