Trees for Life is an iconic WILDLANDS’ project that sees the education about and growing of indigenous trees on a large scale. Essentially, people from disadvantaged communities grow and barter trees with WILDLANDS in exchange for livelihood support items or cash – giving them the ability to “grow” themselves out of poverty and provide for their families. The trees are then planted into restoration sites that contribute to our climate change mitigation and adaptation work.

The WILDLANDS Ecological Restoration project, with support from the Department of Environmental Affairs: Natural Resource Management (NRM) aims to restore degraded forest (using the trees grown by WILDLANDS Tree-preneurs), grasslands, savanna and fynbos landscapes combating land degradation and adapting South Africa’s landscape to be better prepared for climate change. Through revegetation and improved management of landscapes we work to re-establish ecosystem function and resilience.

WILDLANDS has networks in 60 communities across KwaZulu-Natal, Western, Northern & Eastern Cape, Mpumalanga and Gauteng, transforming the lives of thousands of South Africans and improving their livelihoods through innovative sustainable programs. Our WILDLANDS programme is structured around three integrated pillars, namely our Wildlife Economy, Ecological Restoration and Sustainable Communities’ interventions. With a core focus on inclusive growth, the WILDLANDS programme is improving the lives of thousands of South Africans whilst restoring and conserving the natural environment that supports them.