During last year, we continued our practical engagement for forest restoration efforts, both abroad and in Switzerland. We are happy to share an overview of our results, which were supported by new members and donors to our association.
Abroad, together with our partners
We sponsored the planting of 13’850 new trees by our international partners:
- Mangrove Regeneration project with local communities in Tamil Nadu, southern India, with our partner SEEDS;
- Community restoration of native forests in Ethiopia with the Green Ethiopia Foundation.
Our partners will also monitor and maintain the new areas for the first years, as part of their ongoing forest restoration projects.
We sponsored a new project to spread Farmer-Managed Natural Regeneration (FMNR) techniques in Cameroon.
With our seed funding, our local partner Ecological Balance took the first steps in this project. Drawing on their strong local network, they brought together a group of local leading farmers from several communities, and built a collaborative approach, also in coordination with local government agencies. The goal is train and support these farmers, so they can deploy these techniques in their lands, for themselves and as a direct example for their own communities.
Next to the capacity-building workshops and practical actions, Ecological Balance will also run broader sensitization actions via radio and in group meetings, to spread the word and interest. We expect to continue this project in 2026.
In Switzerland, we increased our public events and planting actions
Our events reached an additional 700 people, with strong engagement from the participants.
We continued our public events and exhibitions with activities for families and the general public. In addition to a workshop in Basel, we were also present at the Botanical Garden in St Gallen for the Night of the Museums, and a yearly Biodiversity Market in nearby Appenzell Innerrhoden.
We also supported and conducted 3 new planting actions, as part of our Make it Greener! project.
These actions were done in a public cantonal forest in Schaffhausen and in a public primary school in Rheineck, St Gallen, involving students, families and a group of company employees (who also co-sponsored their planting) In total, we planted 155 new native trees and bushes, adding more biodiversity value, resilience and beauty to these areas.
Also as part of this project, we added new local partners, such as the Bioterra group from St Gallen and Appenzell Innerrhoden. Some of our public activities in this area resulted from this collaboration.
More to come in 2026!
