Agroforesty is a farming system that restores trees to crops, either in the fields themselves or around the edges as hedging.
Trees bring many benefits to crops and animal rearing: shade; windbreaks; water; habitats for biodiversity that may reduce the use of insecticides and fungicides; nutriments provided by certain species of tree; enriching the soil through carbon storage; fodder for animals; fuel wood for local inhabitants. Agroforestry trees may be fruit trees; in which case they provide growers with an extra harvest.
Forestry is an operating system that impacts the development and enhancement of a forest or wood for economic gain (wood) and/or various services that benefit society.
For our selection of projects, we favour this multifunctional approach: one that not only ensures sustainable management of the trees planted to safeguard long-term viability, boosts the resilience of the trees to fire, disease and storms, as well as their adaptation to global warming, but also considers other benefits of the forest – improving the landscape and protecting biodiversity, in particular.
This explains why our forestry projects typically involve a range of different tree species. This approach ensures greater forest resilience, the trees are managed by age to foster greater biodiversity, and the species of trees are selected to suit the terrain in question and its specific features.
There are two different ways to access your account:
The easiest way to login to your Donor Space is to go to the “Donor Space” tab on our website and click on the “Direct connection link by email” button. This operation saves you from having to use – and therefore memorize – a password. Please make sure to fill in the email address used to make your donations.
A single-use connection link will be sent to this email address, allowing you to access your donor space directly by clicking on it.
This operation may take a few minutes, if after that you still haven’t received the email containing the link, please check your “spam box”.
You can repeat this operation as many times as necessary. Please note that, for security reasons, any new request for a login link will cancel the previous one, so the previous link will no longer be valid.
If you prefer to create a password for your account, go to the “Donor Space” tab and click on the “It is my first login” button and fill in the email address used to make your donations. An email will be sent to this address. Once you have received the email, click on the link and reset the password.
This may take a few minutes, if after that you still haven’t received the email containing the link, please check in your “spam box”.
Once your password has been created, you will be able to access your account directly by clicking on the “I know my password” button in the “Donors’ Space” tab of our site. You will then have to fill in the email address used to make your donations and your new password.
The default communication language is determined by the language of the website when you make a donation on the A Tree for You platform or by the language preference provided by the distributor of the A Tree for You donation offer.
You can choose between French and English.
Based on your choice, you will receive notifications, project updates, and newsletters from A Tree for You in the selected language.
To change the language in which you receive communications, please follow these steps: log in to your donor account, go to the “Settings” tab, select “Email Information,” and choose your preferred language (French or English). Save the changes.
A trip generates several types of environmental impact: greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, especially CO2; pollutant emissions; an impact on territories through the footprint of ground infrastructure (roads, airports, ports…); an impact on the material resources used to manufacture vehicles and infrastructure; an impact on the energy used, etc. This is why the best trip for the environment is the one we can avoid!
Looking at just the impact on CO2 emissions, you need two pieces of information to calculate how many trees to plant: the amount of CO2 emitted during the trip and the carbon capture capacity of the trees to be planted.
Simply put…
1 tree = about 100kg of CO2 captured over 10 years. On this basis:
- a Paris-Antananarivo return flight on a regular route, Economy class* = 1,440kg of CO2 per passenger = 14 to 15 trees per passenger;
- a full, 60-litre tank of fuel = 136kg of CO2 (one litre emits 2.28kg of CO2) = 1 to 2 trees to be planted.
Or, for the plane: 1 tree per flight hour = 1 tree for each passenger in Economy class*.
- Paris-Antananarivo in Economy class. = 11hrs 21 x 2 (round trip) = 23 trees per person.
*double the figures for First / Business class
More besides…
Note that carbon capture by trees takes place over 10 years, while the emissions are released during a few trips and the CO2 they emit continues while waiting to contribute to climate change.
Of course, unless there is a problem, trees continue to capture carbon throughout their (long!) lives. And even if they are felled, the systems A Tree for You is promoting encourage beneficiaries to replant in order to maintain a sustainable operation.
Also, the CO2 storage capacity of trees is a tricky question since statistics vary according to soil types, climates, tree species and their environment (agroforestry or forestry). Measuring carbon storage by trees is not an exact science because trees and all their roots would have to be destroyed to find the precise answer, which is obviously not our aim!
Nevertheless, for projects analysed, carbon storage figures suggest a range from 10kg to 35kg of CO2 per year of life of sustainable trees in NON-temperate zones. Consequently, we recommend 100kg of CO2 captured per tree funded by A Tree for You, which represents a conservative figure for CO2 capture over 10 years.
In temperate zones (France, Canada…), however, this figure is often half as low with 5kg of CO2 captured per tree per year…. Hence the need to double the plantations with regards the figures mentioned above.
Most importantly, trees provide many other benefits in addition to carbon storage, since they calm the water cycle, regenerate soils, enrich biodiversity, and enable humans to make a living from them. These are all good reasons to plant trees, beyond the issue of carbon emissions.
We generally choose projects where planting is scheduled 12 months after the donation at the very latest. To find out more, check out the works schedules for the projects (on the A TREE FOR YOU website) you are supporting. You will receive regular updates on these projects, especially the planting process, via your personal account on our social network.
To retrieve it, just follow these 3 steps:
Step 1: Access the “Donor Space” on the A Tree for You website and request a “Connection link by email“. This will allow you to access your Donor Space without needing a password. Be sure to fill in the email address with which the donation was made. A link will be sent to the email address filled in. Click on this link to access directly to the Donor Space.
This operation may take a few minutes, if after that you still haven’t received the email containing the link, please check in your “spam box”.
Step 2: The tax address is required for the establishment of the tax receipt. Thus, if you have not yet filled it in, you will have to do so in your donor space > profile > edit > billing address. Do not forget to “save” changes at the bottom of the page!
Step 3: The tax receipt is now ready to download by going to my donations > tax receipt.
No! Our projects don’t provide carbon offsetting certification. We prefer to plant trees that last in order to develop and protect the environment, rather than obtain certificates. This is why we have opted for the donation approach, which means you are eligible for tax receipts if your tax residence is in France and other related benefits. Financing projects that deliver carbon credits does not give you the right to tax receipts since you are purchasing the equivalent in tonnes of CO2.
The projects are proposed by our planting partners in the A Tree for You selection committee, made up of scientists and development experts. This committee functions independently of the A Tree for You governing board, which, for its part, validates (or invalidates, albeit rarely) the projects retained by the selection committee, but has no powers itself to add a project.
Decisions taken by the selection committee are based on anticipation of the various benefits of the projects: impacts on soil, water, CO2, local communities and biodiversity, as well as the soundness of projects and their lasting potential.
The species (or varieties) of trees to be planted are chosen by the planting operators, on the ground, together with the local community set to benefit from the operation.
The decision is based on the type of soil in question; the climate; the ability of the species to adapt to climate change; its resistance to disease, fire, storms; the benefits for local inhabitants; biodiversity and, of course, the local context – e.g. needing to protect a neighbouring forest from the practice of gathering fuel wood or establishing mangroves to regenerate a coastal ecosystem. These choices are presented to the project selection committee, which then considers their relevance when deciding to retain or reject them.
No, they don’t in the strictest sense of the word. As the case may be, they belong to the owner of the land, to the operator, or to the State. On this point, regulations vary from country to country.
However, since your action has made it possible to plant these trees in the first place, we consider they belong to you… in another sense of the word!
Loss may occur when planting trees on an entire plot. This is normal and the amount depends on the project. There is less loss in agroforestry than forestry because fewer trees are planted per hectare and they are often monitored individually. In forestry, planting is based on high density per hectare to let nature follow its course over a couple of years. Following this period, the hardiest and best formed trees are selected.
For all our projects, the cost-to-plant is based on a lasting tree rather than a tree planted. We take into account the anticipated loss for each project so as to offer you trees (we sincerely hope) that will still be standing decades later!
Once you have donated to plant, A Tree for You opens an ‘account’ in its dedicated social network. This account is automatically linked to that of the planting partner, the operator on the ground, and the project group where your trees will be planted. This means your planting partner will directly send you news on the project and trees planted for at least three years.
To receive these updates, simply visit your account from time to time.
With forests covering over 30% of its land surface – a figure that has even doubled since the French Revolution! – France is particularly blessed when it comes to trees. Yet the country still imports wood to meet its needs! There are several reasons for this paradox: three-quarters of French forests are inherited by private owners who are not necessarily experts in the field. As a result, half of the forestland in France is left to its own devices: what a waste!
Planting in France helps restore forestry operations based on sustainable methods and so supports the country’s forest-timber sector (which employs more people than the auto industry!). This keeps jobs in France, mainly in rural areas, since they cannot be relocated. It also plays a part in replacing energy intensive materials or those emitting high levels of CO2 (concrete, fossil fuels, steel…) with a renewable material that is almost carbon neutral… wood.
Yes, the prices may fluctuate depending on the project. They include all the tasks needed to ensure the planting action lasts over time, far beyond that of the seedling phase: technical skills; preparatory materials; planting and protecting seedlings; training beneficiaries; establishing tree nurseries at times; overall project coordination; and so forth.
Depending on the geographic area and how the project is organised locally, these tasks are valuated at different rates and bear different weight in the overall cost.
When planting with A Tree for You, you are financing a project in its entirety. By so doing, you are providing both the beneficiaries and the planet with a sustainable solution.
A very large majority of your donation will be paid to the planting operator to plant your trees, carry out related works, and ensure overall project coordination.
For every donation to A Tree For You for a project, over 80% is dedicated to the activities of our planting partners in the field. The rest is used by A Tree For You in two different ways: 5% of the donations cover our overheads; 13-15%, depending on the project, is used to prepare, support, and carry out audits of the projects and report back to you.
For the financial year 2022 on, the funding earmarked for this 13-15% will be pooled across all the projects run by the association. This will give us greater flexibility in managing all our projects, be they large or small!
Messages for A Tree for You are sometimes automatically transferred by your mail box into the junk or spam folders. If you don’t receive a mail from us, please check your email address in your personal account profile.
If this fails to resolve the issue, please send us a message on contact@atreeforyou.org. We will make every effort to reply as soon as possible.
You will need to fill in some personal details (name, surname, email address and postal address) to make a donation on our website and create your personal account, allowing you to receive news about your plantations. If your tax domicile is in the European Union and the United Kingdom, your tax address allows us to generate tax receipts for your donations.
In accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), you have the rights to this data: consult the terms here.