SUSTAINABLE
GLOBAL GARDENS
TREE CONSERVATION FOR CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION
SGG has noticed that farming communities in East Africa are increasingly concerned about climate change and its damaging effects on their farm production. Thus, we encourage farmers to modify their traditional farming methods so that they are better adapted to climate change by practising agroforestry, micro- irrigation, diversification of crops grown, especially vegetables with a much shorter growing season than maize, techniques which encourage intensification of farming etc. We implement a 'carbon capture' project where African landowners are encouraged to preserve mature indigenous species trees on their lands in exchange for a small remuneration, which at present is the equivalent of £1/tree paid over a 5 year period. After field work undertaken in 2026 SGG expects to have a stock of at least 20,000 and up to 30,000 mature trees preserved primarily for carbon capture which thereby can reduce the main cause of climate change. We are offering a 'carbon mitigation' service whereby we will arrange for African farmers to preserve trees on your behalf. The advantage of this is that you can reduce your carbon footprint while African farmers gain the various environmental & economic benefits of trees planted on their land. In addition we all benefit from reduced carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and less extreme climate change.
It is difficult to accurately measure the impact of individual tree growth on global reduction of atmospheric carbon, so we will use an average figure to calculate how many trees need to be planted to 'offset' an individuals carbon footprint. What we do know is that growing trees absorb carbon and will make a difference to Earth's climate. SGG also wishes to emphasise that this carbon offsetting is not a licence to continue pouring carbon dioxide & other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, so we would encourage everyone to do all they can to reduce their carbon footprint by reduced car/plane use, less consumption of fossil fuels, choosing renewable electricity, attention to those parts of our diet with a heavy carbon footprint.
Evidence for Climate Change
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The increase in five-year-average temperatures since the beginning of the industrial revolution is estimated to be 1.3–1.4°C.
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The latest five-year averages are the highest on record with Europe about 1°C higher than that for the globe as a whole.
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UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [IPCC] indicates that crossing the 1.5°C threshold risks unleashing far more severe climate change impacts, including more frequent and severe droughts, heatwaves and rainfall.
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During the emergence of Homo sapiens in the Pleistocene period carbon ppm was steady at around 280 ppm. By 1950 this had never risen above 300ppm. However, the global mean average in June 2026 had risen to 427.62 ppm and 2026 is expected to be the hottest year on record.
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Increased temperature does not just affect the land. The average sea surface temperature (SST) over the extrapolar ocean has increased by about 0.6°C over the last four decades despite the melting of glacial ice.
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There has been a 33% loss in sea ice and glaciers since 1980 leading to a rise in sea level.
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If you would like further evidence of climatic change please refer to the EU space agency, Copernicus at https://climate.copernicus.eu/climate-indicators
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The two pictures below, both taken by Paul Keeley of Sustainable Global Gardens, show clear evidence of climate change.
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This is Mt Kilimanjaro in 1973 showing the glacier cover on its summit. Melt water from this on an annual cycle has traditionally provided irrigation to fields on the lower slopes which allowed farmers to harvest 2-3 crops per year. These glaciers were formed during the Ice Age and once gone will not re-freeze.
Here is Mt Kilimanjaro in 2012 showing the vestiges of the glaciers. Reduced meltwater is having an impact on food production. Planting trees will not put the glaciers back but will give a more controlled local water cycle to return water from the ground to the atmosphere. There is already some evidence of water returning to dried up streams where trees have been planted along the banks.
This is not just a problem of Africa and other far away places!
Europe is the fastest warming continent in the world. Between 1980 and 2024, economic losses due to weather- and climate-related extremes amounted to an estimated EUR 822 billion (2024 prices) in the EU. Floods, storms, heatwaves, droughts, wildfires etc were responsible for an extra 441,069 deaths over this period. See https://www.eea.europa.eu/en/analysis/indicators/economic-losses-from-climate-related
Evidence for the role of trees in atmospheric carbon reduction
The key processes to actively reduce atmospheric carbon and store it safely for several decades are photosynthesis and tree growth. The Crowther Lab [www.crowtherlab.com, or browse The Guardian 2019] have established that that extensive tree-planting is by far the cheapest way to take carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere. They claim that there are approximately 3 trillion trees on the planet and sufficient space to plant an additional trillion. If this were done it would largely solve the current climate change crisis – provided the use of fossil fuels, which are continually adding more carbon to the atmosphere, were also reduced.