2011 in Review

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2011 was another year of “growth” for Planting Empowerment, and also marked our five year birthday. Our investors’ trees grew taller and stronger, we improved our operations, added to the Planting Empowerment Advisory Board, and formalized and gained more recognition for our Equitable Forestry model.

Operationally, we continued to develop initiatives to increase benefits to our partner communities. Namely, we began planting staple crops between the rows of trees (agroforestry), to generate returns earlier and increase efficiencies in our operations. We expect the plantains and yams to begin producing yields next year.

In 2012, Planting Empowerment plans to plant another five hectares of trees, bringing our total area under cultivation to 25 hectares (65 acres). We will be working with a former Peace Corps colleague-turned-biochar-expert Alan Foster to jumpstart our program, based on the MIT biochar business plan (PDF) created for us in 2010. We will use the biochar to fertilize our own trees initially, but will possibly sell it to other forestry or agricultural operations in the future.

2011 also marked the year that we formalized our operating model into five principals and gave it a name: the Equitable Forestry model. We were honored to be part of a United Nations Development Program study on Biodiversity in Latin America and the Caribbean (PDF). Planting Empowerment will also be presenting the model at the Yale School of Forestry International Society of Tropical Foresters Annual Conference in January of next year.

Thomas P. Kearney III and Sherif Gamal joined our Advisory Board, adding needed experience in finance and marketing, respectively. Our updated website holds more information for investors and visitors about forest investments, impact investing, tropical deforestation, and rural development. And the Planting Empowerment blog continues to serve as source of trusted information for those interested in forestry and investing in forestry.

As more investors recognize the benefits of responsible forest investing, we’re confident that Planting Empowerment will continue to create positive impacts for our partner communities and surrounding ecosystems. We look forward to working with you towards that goal in 2012.

Shedding Problem in Teak Farms

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Photo of a monoculture Teak tree farm in PanamaA monoculture Teak tree farm in PanamaThe ITTO’s latest marketplace review included a report from India revealing the negative impacts monoculture Teak plantations are causing.

The problem seems to be caused by the Teak tree’s tendency to shed its leaves during the dry season, reducing the amount of shading of the understory. Increased sunlight dries up pools of water on the ground, which are important for the survival of flora and fauna. In a more biodiverse plantation forest (or first growth forest) the trees maintain a constant canopy that provides the shade to maintain these pools of water.

During the dry season in Panama, you can see the ground cracking in the Teak plantations, but in the more biodiverse forests, there is no cracking.

While we do plant some Teak in as part of our species mix, the majority of our plantations are mixed tree species native to Panama. We purposefully leave buffers around water sources and non-commercial trees standing in order to provide biodiversity benefits, reduce erosion, and reduce the risk of blight and pests.

The majority of investment goes into monoculture Teak plantations. We hope, however, that this study draws attention to the negative environmental impacts caused by single-species plantations and encourages the creation of more sustainable forest investments.

What should you be looking for in a forest investment?

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Land Conflicts and Indigenous Lands

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Photo of Leaders of Arimae point out deforestation in the community's reservationLeaders of Arimae point out deforestation in the community's reservationThe Panamanian newspaper La Prensa recently ran an article about the Embera/Wounaan closing the Pan-American highway in the Darien. The block was a reaction to the Panamananian government’s failure to evict squatters from the reservation of our indigenous partner community Arimae.
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Darien, Panama trip in January

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Photo: An investor stands with a young mahogany tree during Planting Empowerment's first investor trip in 2008An investor stands with a young mahogany tree during Planting Empowerment's first investor trip in 2008As we do every year, Planting Empowerment is hosting a group of investors and interested people in Panama to tour the Darien and our operations. This is a great opportunity to learn about Planting Empowerment’s Equitable Forestry Model and see the first hand benefits of your investments.

We are offering trips to the campo (countryside) December 31st-January 15th. As we have already had numerous inquires, don’t hesitate to contact me at amparrucci@plantingempowerment.com if you’re interested in joining.

These trips are always informative and engaging for those involved. The last group to attend, a group of UN climate change negotiators, found the trip to be very relevant to their work.

As a social business, we use these trips to both generate interest in our investments and raise awareness of what those investments support. You’ll learn about the numerous challenges posed by tropical deforestation and see how we’re creating solutions that meet those challenges.

Interested to know what you'll see?

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Four recommendations for social businesses and nonprofits

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Advisory Board member Ned Symes stands with a spiny cedar tree in PanamaLast Wednesday I had the opportunity to sit down with some grad students at American University's International Training and Education Program (ITEP) to discuss social enterprise.

The goal of the discussion was to give up-and-coming entrepreneurs a sense of the challenges behind starting and managing a nonprofit or mission-focused business. Three former ITEP students who have gone on to start their own enterprises also helped lead the discussion.

The two nonprofits represented, Access to Success and Simply Equal Education, are both young and obviously passionate about their work. As they described the challenges they were facing, I thought back on our own version of those same challenges. That's not to say that we're not still dealing with some of them—maintaining a flow of operating capital, managing our operations efficiently, and mission creep to name a few—but now we have the benefit of viewing our early mistakes in hindsight.

Some of the recommendations that came out of our discussion include:

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