“Like a seedling, with sun, good soil, and abundant rain, the roots of our future will bury themselves in the ground and a canopy of hope will reach into the sky”

- Wangari Maathai (Nobel Peace Prize winner, founder of the “Green Belt Movement” in Kenya).

THE CHALLENGE

In Tunisia, poor women farmers living in rural areas are suffering the devastating consequences of climate change, including drought and soil erosion. A staggering 75% of land in Tunisia is now in the process of desertification.

These women and their families need our help!

Tunisian women farmers are particularly vulnerable to the damaging effects of climate change. 17% of Tunisian women work in the agricultural sector, where female unemployment and poverty is rising rapidly.

Thanks to our new campaign, “1 Million Trees for Tunisia", each of us can be an agent of positive change and help turn this situation around.

THE SOLUTION WE’RE PROPOSING 

In the Sfax region of Tunisia, W4 & our local partner Acacias for All, founded by visionary changemaker Sarah Toumi, have launched an innovative program -- “1 Million Trees for Tunisia” -- which is helping female farmers to face the challenges of climate change.

The program provides local women farmers with training in sustainable farming (irrigation with solar pumps, permaculture, composting) and the plantation of trees and plants that are adapted to the arid environment (such as acacia and moringa trees, which require less water, can tolerate salt water, and help revitalize the soil). The sustainable agriculture techniques and plantation of adapted trees and plants are helping to create a “green belt” in the region. The program is helping to combat desertification and alleviate climate change, while also reducing poverty in rural areas by helping women farmers to generate revenues through sustainable farms.

With your support, our goal with the “One Million Trees for Tunisia” campaign is to plant one million trees by 2018!

The “One Million Trees for Tunisia” campaign will have a positive economic impact not only upon individual women farmers and their families, but across entire local communities. Indeed, the harvests from the moringa and acacia trees (Arabic gum is used in industrial processes such as the manufacture of yogurt, cosmetics and prescription drugs, and moringa oil is used for massage and relaxation purposes) will be sold to fair-trade social businesses, thus generating sustainable revenues for the women farmers and boosting local economies. 

The impact of giving

With a donation of as little as 2 euros/2 dollars, you can have a triple impact -- social, economic and environmental! You can help plant a tree and combat desertification, while promoting sustainable development and helping vulnerable women farmers to earn revenues. Your donation will not only improve the lives of the women and their families, elevating the women’s social and economic status within the community, but will also boost local economies and help entire local communities overcome the challenges of climate change!

Together, let’s plant 1 million trees and create a green belt in Tunisia!

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