Trees for Rural Communities

Life is possible without internet, but not trees and plants. As Ralph Waldo Emerson once quoted, “The creation of a thousand forests is in one acorn.”

Rural men and women in many areas have long been involved in the conservation and cultivation of trees on agricultural lands and forested areas. The relationship between rural people and the trees in their environment is generally complex. Their underlying function has been to ensure that locally-valued tree species continue to be available to rural people. The extent to which people cultivate and manage trees varies throughout the non-industrial areas of the world. It depends largely on characteristics of local ecology, patterns of agricultural land-use, cultural traditions, local demands for wood and wood products, tenure rights and economic pressures.  

Forests and trees outside forests were estimated by the World Bank in 2008 to contribute to the livelihoods of more than 1.6 billion people worldwide. When it comes to agroforestry products, databases of useful species for farmers have been compiled to suggest that timber followed by medicines and fuel are the most frequent uses of trees on farmlands. However, there are many trees that also support farm production through controlling erosion, providing shade and shelter, and replenishing soils.

Trees provide wildlife habitat. Forests also play a vital role in agricultural production. In farmlands and grazing areas, trees also play a vital environmental role. They act as windbreaks, protecting crops from wind damage and the soil from erosion. Their shade helps to reduce the temperature of the soil. Tree litter slows down the run-off of rain, thereby protecting the soil and increasing the infiltration of water so that groundwater stores are replenished. Trees also redistribute nutrients, drawing essential minerals from the subsoil and making them accessible, through their leaf-fall, to other plants. The importance of the tree products should not be underestimated. They make a vital contribution to the needs and general living patterns of large numbers of rural people. Trees are an important source of many herbal remedies and traditional medicines. An additional benefit is obtained from the protection against erosion. The total productivity of the land is also increased by the fact that these systems permit a supplementary or complementary use of different layers of the soil and of the space exposed to sunlight above the surface.

Planting trees in rural areas of our country has been an initiative not only taken by the rural population but also by the people and corporates from the urban areas who realize its importance. Grow-Trees.com is a social enterprise which helps you to gift a tree to your loved ones while helping rural communities and society as a whole. Trees are the best way to add economic as well as developmental growth of the rural communities.

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