The Tree Council’s Tree Futures offers help for tree planting through two grants programmes, the ‘Trees for Schools‘ and ‘Community Trees‘ funds. Any school or community group within the UK that is planning a project that actively involves children under 16 is encouraged to draw on the fund to plant trees and make a greener future.
The Tree Council’s National Tree Week (from 29 November to 7 December in 2014) is the focus for these projects and successful applicants organise their planting events in conjunction with our annual celebration of the new tree planting season.
In addition, we are offering funds for fruit tree planting by schools and community groups through our Orchard Windfalls fund, first launched for the 2013 planting season. We are able to fund projects between £100 and £700 and successful applicants will receive up to 75% towards their planting costs. For example, if your project totals £700, The Tree Council would offer up to £525. The remaining 25% will need to be secured by your school or organisation.
With the generous support of an anonymous donor we have been able to produce a Key Stage 1 & 2 teaching and learning resource which will be sent out free of charge to all successful grant applicants. To see taster pages and information about how to purchase the CD ROM please click on this Tree Ties link.’
A recent Montpellier Panel Briefing Paper, Innovation for Sustainable Intensification in Africa, highlights the need for change in the way we innovate and do research if we are to increase food production while protecting natural resources (in other words sustainable intensification). Added to this need for change is the increasing focus of donors and civil society to measure success as the level of impact. International aid has come under criticism for failing to ensure long-term impact of research investments.
In a new report by Joanna Kane-Potaka of the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) entitled The Story Behind the Success, 10 case studies are presented, which exemplify how research for development (R4D) can be translated into real results and uptake by people on the ground. Some broad lessons from the case studies were the need for monitoring and evaluation to feed back into the uptake…
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I recently attended a lecture by Sir Gordon Conway, the gist of which I hope to reflect on and share soon- its all about ‘sustainable intensification’ of food growing as the way forward to tackle global hunger…fascinating projects and innovations from around the world point the way. Here’s an article that captures the approach.
Professor Sir Gordon Conway and Katy Wilson highlight the need for innovative solutions to food insecurity
Article originally appeared on The Economist Insights
With global population expected to reach 9.6 billion by 2050 the world faces unprecedented demands on its resources – not least water, biodiversity and land. Add to this the likely impact of climate change, and the challenge of feeding a world where some 870 million people are already chronically hungry appears a difficult one.
Governments, NGOs, academia and the private sector are searching for long-term sustainable solutions to global food insecurity and future resource scarcity. One solution, first proposed by Jules Pretty in the 1990s, and backed by the Montpellier Panel, a high-level group of European and African experts in the fields of agriculture, trade, policy, and global development, is sustainable intensification. At its heart sustainable intensification is about producing more food, more efficiently.
Achieving global…
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Old School Garden raised some funding to help support Norfolk local food growing projects under the ‘Master Gardener’ programme. Here’s a story about how some of the money, raised from a garden open day, has been used.To have the opportunity to plant “Rob’s tree”, care for it and watch it flourish will help them come to terms with their grief and loss.
Nigel Boldero aka 'Old School Gardener'
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