Podcast

The TreesForDev project is excited to a present a 10-podcast series that will be released once a month from February to November 2024 on several podcasting platforms in conjunction with the Global Extractivisms and Alternatives podcast.

In response to accelerating, concurrent socio-ecological crises, ecological restoration (ER) has come to the forefront as a strategy to repair damaged/degraded landscapes. International pledges, like the UN’s Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (2021-2030) have set specific targets to restore vast areas of degraded land across the world. ER encompasses a wide continuum of practices that seek to repair degraded land, natural ecosystems, urban landscapes, and farmlands. One of the foremost strategy of ER is to plant trees, often in the geographical contexts of the global South. ER involves many different forms of tree planting, with a mixed variety of species planted with an aim to improve wildlife habitat, local livelihoods, and climate change resilience. These tree planting initiatives are often supported by national political agendas seeking to address global and regional development priorities (e.g., UN’s SDGs) and by a variety of public-private partnerships and market-based funding (i.e., philanthropic donations & carbon markets) designed to scale up ER efforts in the global South. 

Initial research suggests that while some tree-planting projects show promising potential, some efforts may worsen climate change-induced vulnerabilities, social precarities, and ecological conditions. Thus, a more detailed global and local analysis is needed of the dynamics involved in ER. This podcast series will bring to light stories & experiences of those who are working on the front lines of practical tree planting and academic research related to tree planting and ER. 

The TreesForDev project is honored to collaborate with the Global Extractivisms and Alternatives Initiative (EXALT) podcast. Each of our episode will be released through their platforms, including Apple Podcasts and Spotify. We will post links to each episode on this page and announce them on our social media and in our newsletter (please use this link to subscribe to the newsletter). If you would like the episodes to show up directly in your podcast feed, please subscribe to the EXALT podcast on the podcatcher of your choice. 

We are extremely grateful to the Helsinki Institute of Sustainability Science (HELSUS) at the University of Helsinki for their support of this podcast series. Without the support of the HELSUS societal impact grant we would be unable to bring this series to life. 

 

 

In this episode we are joined by Linda Annala Tesfaye and Bikila Warkineh. Linda is a project researcher from the TreesForDev project leading the work package that is looking at Ethiopia. Bikila is the Head of Plant Biology and Biodiversity Management at Addis Ababa University and works as Associate Professor of Ecology. His research centers on the broad area of the ecological sciences and ecosystems ecology. He is strongly interested in the science, politics, and policies of natural resource management, climate change, sustainable development, and how these are linked with socio-economic development.

Bikila and Linda give us insight into the history and current developments in tree planting in Ethiopia. Ethiopia has a long history with tree planting and more generally greening initiatives. Through the Green Legacy Initiative, Ethiopia has become a forerunner in ecological restoration in the African context. The activities in Ethiopia go beyond just tree planting, but really working toward developing a resilient and green culture in the face of climate change. One key facet of the work being done in Ethiopia is the widespread use of native species in the planting projects. This model has had many positive regional impacts and has strongly influenced the approach to tree planting in its neighboring countries.


 

In this episode we are joined by Ossi Ollinaho and Natacha Bruna. Ossi is a project researcher from the TreesForDev project leading the work package that is looking at Mozambique. Natacha is scholar activist and researcher who is doing a post-doctoral project at Cornell University in the Global Development Department, previously she worked at our project partner at Observatório do Meio Rural (OMR), in Mozambique. Natacha coordinated the research line on models of rural development and her research has focused on the impacts of large-scale investment.

Natacha gives us an insight on her take into Green Extractivism and how this plays out in the Mozambican context. She sees green extractivism as a variation of extractivism where what is being extracted is emission rights. Emission rights are extracted from the rural poor and then sold to entities like multinational firms who then have the right to continue to pollute. The privilege of pollution is given to the main actors who are perpetrating the pollution. We explore this dynamic from multiple perspectives.


 

In this episode we are joined by Marketta Vuola and Zo Randriamaro. Marketta is a project researcher from the TreesForDev project leading the work package on Madagascar. Zo works for the Research and Support Center for Development Alternatives-Indian Ocean (RSCDA-IO) / Centre de Recherches et d’Appui pour les Alternatives de Développement-Océan Indien (CRAAD-OI). The RSCDA-IO / CRAAD-OI, which is a pan-African, non-profit organization. “Its mission is to promote sustainable development alternatives that are centered on the realization of human rights and based on the principles of gender equality, social, economic and ecological justice.”

Marketta and Zo give us insight into the overarching context in Madagascar and share why it is one of the case study countries in the TreesForDev project. We discuss some of the disconnects between ecological restoration and conservation and also some of the ways that organizations tasked to help, do not always improve livelihood prospects on the ground.

In this episode we are joined by Ossi Ollinaho and Máriam Abbas. Ossi is a project researcher from the TreesForDev project leading the work package that is looking at Mozambique. Máriam is a researcher from Observatório do Meio Rural (OMR), in Mozambique, who is coordinating the research line “Environment and Rural Areas”, which explores, among other topics, the impacts of climate change on agriculture, the causes of deforestation and mainstreaming biodiversity in the agricultural sector.

Ossi and Máriam give us insight into why Mozambique is one of the case study countries in the TreesForDev project. Agriculture accounts for approximately 25 percent of the GDP of the country. Thus, there is a large rural population, and the forest has a very important role in the rural populations’ livelihood prospects. They reflect on the economic system and the underlying extractivist logics that are often incompatible with improving local conditions.

Welcome to the debut episode of the limited series TreesForDev project podcast. In this episode we are honored to be joined by the project principal investigators, Maria Ehrnstöm-Fuentes and Markus Kröger, from Hanken School of Economics and University of Helsinki respectively. In this conversation, they introduce us to who they are and what types of questions are being investigated in the TreesForDev project. This project examines the dynamics of ecological restoration involving tree planting schemes. Planting trees is a popular and “easy” way to try to restore ecosystems and mitigate climate change. Our project examines the socio-ecological/economic impacts of tree planting in the global South. The project is funded by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs through the Develop2 funding instrument, which is managed in conjunction with the Research Council of Finland. The TreesForDev will run until the end of 2026 and includes research in Finland, Madagascar, Ethiopia, Mozambique, and Brazil.