The passion to admire the beauty of our planet always brings with it the duty to preserve it. At TripLegend, environmental protection is one of the core pillars on which every trip is built. Sustainability is not just something we think about from the ground up, protecting the earth is reflected in every action we take. Among our many actions, one project in particular stands out:
With the TripLegend Food Forest in Sierra Leone, we offset the unavoidable emissions of all TripLegend adventures to 110%. Learn more about our project here.
What is a food forest?
A food forest is a forest of trees that yield food, such as nuts or fruit. A wide variety of plants can be used for this purpose. A higher diversity of plants is better for the ecosystem. In addition to the cultivated plants, a variety of animals also find their home in the food forest.
The advantages of a food forest
- Trees compensate for CO2 by performing photosynthesis: they use light energy and water to break down CO2 into glucose and oxygen. In this way, they not only produce clean air to breathe, but also bind the climate-damaging carbon dioxide that is also emitted during some travel-related activities, such as flying.
- They create habitat for quite a few animal species where this habitat was previously lost, for example, through slash-and-burn agriculture or soil sealing.
- The soils are vitalized by the targeted cultivation and, in the case of larger cultivated areas, improve the climatic conditions in the growing region.
- A food forest helps local people in poor areas not only to feed themselves, but also to sell the harvested fruits and thus to finance important elements of life such as education or health.
The SDGs
The Sustainable Development Goals are the UN's 17 goals for sustainable development at the economic, social and environmental levels. They define goals for all states so that our planet remains habitable and progress benefits all people.
With the TripLegend Food Forest and our Community Partnership with the Maron Community in Sierra Leone, we are addressing 5 of these goals in particular.
SDG 1: "No poverty":
The TripLegend food forest provides the Maron community in Sierra Leone with a way out of poverty. Around 700 people live here, who are not only involved in the cultivation project in the first step, but subsequently also harvest the fruits and nuts and can thus build up an income by selling the harvest yields in addition to feeding themselves.
SDG 2: "No Hunger:
A Food Forest is the optimal use of land to ensure ecologically sound rebuilding of destroyed landscapes while using nature's vital resources to fight hunger in needy areas. Because the food forest is planted right by the village, the harvest can go directly to the local people.
SDG 8: "Decent work and economic growth":
Through our Community Partnership, the people in Maron Village not only get work by simply planting the seeds. The tools needed for this are also provided by the local blacksmith, the plants are cared for and the harvest is prepared or sold. The partnership provides income in various ways and jobs with decent working conditions.
SDG 13: "Climate action":
This point may be the most obvious, but it has a stronger scale than in other CO2 compensation projects. We chose to have our own food forest not only because of the many benefits for the local community, but also because there are different quality levels of CO2 offsets. Greenwashing is a big problem in carbon trading and many projects do not help nature in any way. For example, certificates can be bought from projects that "protect" areas that are already protected because they are located in national parks, for example. This form of "compensation" does not help the environment.
In the case of our own forest, we ourselves have the power to design compensation in such a way that it actually slows down climate change. By growing the forest where previously human-damaged ecosystems prevailed, allowing only minimal CO2 compensation. These areas are particularly valuable, re-vegetating wasteland creates measurable climate value. Through our 110% scheme, we not only offset but also add value to the climate with each trip. Flights are always included, even if you don't book them through us.
SDG 15: "Life on land":
This goal deals with the intactness of ecosystems on land. We plant a forest with many different plant species, in which diverse animals also feel comfortable. Thus, the TripLegend Food Forest drives the protection of biodiversity and the creation of new habitat for diverse species of animals. This is also due to the fact that our forest is not a mere collection of trees, not a plantation of the same kind. Rather, the forest was designed from the ground up as a habitat that reflects the natural living conditions of an intact ecosystem.
The TripLegend Food Forest
Our food forest is located in Sierra Leone near the village of Maron Communitywith which we are building it together. The forest will cover 220,000 square meters by the end of this year, which is roughly the size of 30 soccer fields. We plan to grow the forest each year to at least the extent that the plants offset 110 percent of the total CO2 equivalents emitted on TripLegend adventures. To do this, we also calculate the emissions from flights, even if you don't book your flight through us.
You can check the progress of our forest regularly on our Instagram channel track
The forest combines a wide variety of tree species, perennials and ground plants that can be harvested on several floors. Thus, the palms high above bear coconuts, while mangoes grow below. Cashew nuts thrive a little lower still, and perennial plants like bananas and papayas close in to ground plants like pineapples and sesame that cover the earth. Here, however, the harvesting possibilities are not yet complete; plants such as potatoes, ginger and peanuts also grow into the soil.
The project is organized locally by our friends from Climate Nuts. In the interview with Climate Nuts founder Christoph you will learn more about our forest in Sierra Leone and why food forests are so important:
The nutrition project
In addition to the Food Forest, we have entered into a partnership with the Maron Community, with the help of which we have donated 10 large bags of seeds for beans, 40 bags of nuts and 130 tools from the local blacksmith. In this way, we can support the village sustainably, so that it will soon no longer be dependent on aid from western organizations through the sale of the yields.
Read even more in our second Interview with Climate Nuts founder Christoph or find already now your TripLegend adventure, to support the Food Forest and sustainably discover the wonders of our world, privately or in a group.
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