Name: Beatrice Ahimbisibwe
Community: Bitereko sub-County, Rubirizi District, Uganda
Number of planted trees: 1,400
Earnings to date: $1,183
Total earnings (based on successful project): $1,831.25
GIS coordinates of parcel(s): Eastings 9939186, 9939194, 9939138, 9939164; Northings 831032, 831112, 831126, 831035.
Plan Vivo ID: 0001 & 0131
Beatrice was the very first person to register with Ecotrust’s Trees for Global Benefits project in 2003 and has approximately 1,400 trees on two pieces of land. She started with a 1-hectare plot and later expanded her plantings to a second plot of 2.5 hectares.
Beatrice is a qualified secondary school teacher, who joined the project after her husband passed away at the tender age of 25. Her husband left her with a son and daughter all under the age of 5.
In addition to educating her children, Beatrice has invested in a private primary school, which has grown to become one of the best in the area. Many of the children that go through her school are able to get government sponsorship for secondary education. She has also built a new house purchased household items e.g. furniture. Above all she considers the trees her retirement security.
Beatrice is a very enterprising women who in addition to being farmer and teacher, she is also a community mobiliser who has worked closely with her local church, village council as well as village bank.
Selecting tree species and ensuring long-term CO2 sequestration
Beatrice’s key management objective for tree planting is to produce timber. When she joined the project, she had no idea which trees were appropriate. With a bit of training from the project as well as consideration of available seedlings, Beatrice decided to experiment with a number of timber tree species, selecting those known to mature early and known to grow well on her neighbors’ farms. Further, Beatrice has ensured long-term sequestration by being conservative on the amount of land she dedicated tree planting so as to not compromise land needed for food production and other agricultural activities.
In her own words…
“I have benefited a lot from carbon payments. My investments on the farm, private school, new house would never have been possible without the carbon money. However, there are other benefits which even if I had money, I would not have been to able; the respect and recognition I have received at both national and international levels from the several workshops where I have been invited to speak, the knowledge about the different trees and their values as well as the leadership skills.”
Beatrice’s message to Cotappers
“Work with us to make our world a better place, you will offset your CO2 emissions and we will improve our livelihoods. There are many more farmers who would like to join the project if only we know that there are carbon buyers that will make it possible for them to join.”
You can read more about the Trees for Global Benefits Community Carbon Project, and support it by offsetting your CO2 footprint to it, at COTAP.org/TFGB-Uganda.
