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Chadwick Teamwear has contributed £50,000 towards the second stage of funding for natural resource management work in Tanzania, led by sustainable development partner, Raleigh International.
Now in its second year, the three-year partnership focuses on supporting Raleigh’s Natural Resource Management (NRM) program where deforestation and desertification is a considerable issue. The project supported is called Youth for Community Conservation (Y4CC).
Through the partnership, Chadwick Teamwear and Raleigh International are working to empower Tanzanian youth to mobilise 900 rural community members to live in sustainable harmony with their natural environment. To support this aim, the Y4CC project includes the planting of 300,000 tree seedlings and the establishment of three community-based natural resource management committees.
By planting pine seedlings and constructing a village-owned tree nursery in each community, Y4CC will provide three rural communities in the Mkingu Forest Nature Reserve with a sustainable alternative to deforestation. Pine is a fast-growing species of tree which, when mature, will provide an alternative source of sustainable timber for community members to harvest for charcoal, firewood and lumber, thus reducing the pressure on local, natural forests.
Six Tanzanian youth will be supported by international volunteers to train and raise awareness in sustainable forest management. Three newly formed committees will help ensure the project’s long-term sustainability.
The project has already made considerable impact in its first year. It has reached over 800 people and trained local people in rural communities on practices around natural resource management through awareness-raising events. Volunteers funded by the project have also constructed tree nurseries in two communities and have exceeded targets by planting approximately 240,000 seedlings, helping to conserve the natural environment in rural Tanzania.
James Sutton, head of corporate partnerships at Raleigh International, said: “Planting trees is of course a positive thing, but to really ensure that there is an understanding as to why the forest reserve should be protected, it’s so important to have youth leaders driving awareness about sustainable forest management within communities. Without the very generous financial support of Chadwick Textiles we really wouldn’t be able to achieve this.”
