Restoration Community Talk, 3rd edition: “It’s inspiring to hear all the work going on.”

The third edition of our Restoration Community Talks has taken place and was again a great success. These Video Calls, which are now held on a regular basis, bring together managers from restoration organizations to share their experiences. They learn more about “platform updates”, the support they can receive from Plant-for-the-Planet and share their knowledge and experiences from their own projects.

The topics in this call were as diverse as the almost 50 representatives of 36 organizations from countries all over the world such as Australia, Bangladesh, Brazil, Burundi, Colombia, Ethiopia, Honduras, Indonesia, Ireland, Kenya, Mexico, the Netherlands, Spain, Uganda, Tanzania, Thailand, the UK and the USA and – not to forget – our office in Germany.

First and foremost, the focus was on improvements to our platform technology. Some functions were upgraded. We are constantly working on our Plant-for-the-Planet platform app as well as TreeMapper.App, of which one of the participants said: “Definitely useful to see the ability to import TreeMapper data on the website.” Users in planting projects are not the only ones who benefit from these apps, which allow them to monitor and showcase their planting progress. Donors also benefit, as they get deeper insights into the work of the various restoration organizations and can track “from their couch” how their donations are being converted into planted trees.

Another point was the standards for restoration projects, which have the objective to ensure that projects in the platform are long-term sustainable and should help all participants on the platform to present their work in comparable terms. Project reviews help to provide deeper insight and better understanding of each project while allowing us to check on the  guiding criteria that we have established for the goal of forest restoration. In this context, also reporting requirements as a reference for donor engagement were discussed.

As a highlight, Trees4Humanity presented their work in Namibia and Uganda and answered questions on various aspects of their work. As a special focus, they presented their goal to avoid plastic in their projects by developing eco-friendly pots for tree seedlings. 

The third Restoration Community Talk was summed up by one of our attendees who closed by saying, “Thank you all, it is inspiring to hear all the work that is going on. Take care, see you soon!” Thanks to all who attended!

The next meeting will be held in Q3 / 2022. Feel free to join.

Questions about the platform and participation can be directed to: samantha.davalos@plant-for-the-planet.org