Frequently Asked Questions

2-What is the need for reforestation?

Reforestation in the tropics is one of the most effective ways to remove CO₂ from the atmosphere. This does not then provide an excuse to carry on with ‘business as usual’. However, it is something we can do now along side transforming our behaviours, our economy and our relationship to the natural world and its resources.

There are numerous additional benefits to reforestation such as: restoring and maintaining soil health, stopping and reversing biodiversity loss, helping build resilience to extreme weather events for wildlife and communities, improving water retention, air quality, and providing sustainable livelihoods for some of the world’s poorest. Also, trees are beautiful!

3-What should the fundraising target be?

There is no overall target for ‘The Forest the Size of Anywhere’, we just want as many forests to be restored as possible!

Your target is up to you and will depend on what the Size of You is, who are you doing this for and what size fits, ‘Tree Peeps’, ‘Forest Cover my Area’ or ‘Absorb My CO₂’. We will be launching an enablers pack soon to make ‘The Forest the Size of Anywhere’ more personal to you! In the meantime, here are some basic averages that we use:

‘Forest Cover Your Area’: Allow 1 tree for every 10 square meters. 1 tree will cost £3.27

‘Tree Peeps’: Gift a tree this Christmas. 1 tree for 1 person will cost £3.27

‘Absorb My CO₂’: The average annual carbon footprint of an individual in the UK is 7.5 tonnes of CO₂.

To remove this much CO₂ would require 7 trees to be planted in the tropics. This will cost £22.06, which breaks down to less than the cost of a coffee per month.

4-What does each donor receive and how much communication with the donors will there be?

We encourage all donors to subscribe to our social media channels in order to receive our updates on what is happening on the ground.

If you are donating as a gift, please email reforestation@theconvergingworld.org with the name you would like on the gift certificate and whether you have donated to ‘Tree Peeps’, ‘Forest Cover my Area’ or ‘Absorb My CO₂’ and one of our team will arrange for a gift certificate to be emailed to you.

7-How long will it take for our carbon footprint to be balanced by a ‘Forest the Size of Anywhere’?

We estimate that every tree planted will absorb over 1 tonne of CO₂ over its 100-year lifetime, with the majority of this taking place within the first 20-50 years of growth.

Sound slow? Reforestation is one of the simplest and most affordable ways to remove CO₂ from the atmosphere. Other climate conscious choices you decide to make, although of course critically important, will avoid further CO₂ emissions. Trees are a tried and tested carbon sequestration technology that is available to be used at the scale needed! Planting trees allows you to take action to balance the carbon you have already produced.

12-How do your partners ensure the protection of an area once reforestation gets underway?

The Converging World chooses to work with partners based on their reputation and their project impact. In order to ensure a project’s success, it is vital that the local community is engaged and involved in the process because they will be the ones to safeguard the forest once the project is completed. All of our project partners have different methods of doing this, for example, Pitchandikulam Bio Resource Centre uses the restoration work to support local livelihoods, which protects the forest through a process called social fencing.