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We are growing trees & seeding ideas. 

WithOneSeed is the first Gold Standard verified carbon forestry program in Timor Leste. It is working with subsistence  farming communities to replant their forests thereby creating a carbon store to build local economies, deliver practical education and training in agroforestry and permaculture to create a more sustainable, equal and just world.

You are requested to act today!

WithOneSeed gives you the opportunity to support the reforestation of the planet while supporting subsistence tree farmers in Timor-Leste . It is now simple for you to ‘adopt a tree’ that has been planted and nurtured by subsistence communities in the mountains of Timor-Leste. The most recent IPCC report October 2018 suggests that reforestation and forest conservation alone could account for between 24-30% of the solution to climate change. Forests represent a huge carbon stock, as well as providing opportunities for sustainable livelihoods and biodiversity conservation.

WithOneSeed has four commitments

Community Forestry
Climate Change Education
Economic Participation
Regional Partnerships

WithOneSeed

WithOneSeed is developing capacity for subsistence communities to build local economies, participate in environmental education and establish partnerships to produce a more equal and just world.

It’s about climate justice, sustaining development and achieving climate regulation at local and national levels in Timor-Leste. WithOneSeed supports 10 of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals.

WithOneSeed particularly helps realise the SDGs by helping to:

  • – end poverty and hunger and promote sustainable farming and lifelong learning
  • – promote decent work, sustainable agricultural communities and economic growth
  • – take action to combat climate change, manage forests and reverse land degradation
  • – encourage local, national and global partnerships for sustainable development
  • – empower women and children, and particularly girls, by increasing family income, facilitating children’s education and creating family job prospects.

Vision

Our long-term vision is to build village-based economies using environmental practices that are viable and support sustainable living. Putting an earned dollar in a persons pocket empowers them to make decisions for their own future.  It is beyond charity and aid.

Today, Timor-Leste is an oil/gas dependent economy. This is not sustainable in the medium to long-term. Planting trees today will allow the country to have viable economic alternatives tomorrow.

We plan to plant 1,000,000+ trees by replicating the Community Tree Cooperative model across Timor-Leste.

The WithOneSeed model documentation will be made available to other Asia-Pacific countries under Creative-Commons ethos.

 

 

Innovation

Our approach is simple in its theory and application. We are planting trees and seeding ideas. Our innovation comes from the annual incentive payments made to subsistence farmers who maintain the trees. If a subsistence farmer has to choose between planting a cash crop or planting trees that may take 20 years to provide a financial return, the choice is obvious. However, if we can make a cash crop from trees that sequester carbon, the equation is quite different.

“To put an ‘earned’ dollar is someone’s pocket give them the power to determine their own future. WithOneSeed supports communities to move beyond charity and aid by delivering opportunities for communities and individuals to become economically independent”.  Andrew Mahar AM Co-founder WithOneSeed

Methodology

WithOneSeed has developed a program methodology incorporating the key elements of the Gold Standard A/R criteria

– Designed for small-scale farmers in rural areas

– Designed for members of democratic community-based organisations able to contribute to social and economic development

– Designed to provide reforestation with native or naturalised tree species

– Designed to create a sustainable land-management plan

– Designed to use improve complementary livelihoods

– Designed to be based on land title or certified community or customary ownership that allows accountability for carbon reduction and

– Designed to monitor, record and sell carbon stored

– Designed to allow farmers to receive payments for carbon stored in trees

– Designed to be replicated

– Designed to meet Gold Standard Foundation standards through a community consultative process

– Designed for farmer managed and owned land

– Designed to encourage the development of local capacity, and minimise dependence on external support.

TreeO2 community forestry platform

A key part of the transparency of the WithOneSeed community forestry program is the tracking of every farmer and every tree he or she plants.  WithOneSeed community foresters visit each tree farmer and together, they ‘tag’ every tree with an RFID tag. They then scan the tree tag and information about the tree recorded into a smartphone app to allow the program to know exactly how many trees survive each year. This information is also used to calculate the annual farmer payment based on the number of surviving trees on each smallholder farm. In 2023, just 0ver US$200,000 was paid to the Baguia tree farmers.

In a year where a performance audit is conducted, sample plots are used, and the circumference of a random sample of trees is taken.  This information is then used to calculate the amount of carbon stored in the new forests.  While this methodology has served the program well, we are always looking for ways to make community forest management more efficient, accountable and reliable.   TreeO2 uses RFID tags, which are attached to each tree at breast height.  Each farmer is provided with a WithOneSeed membership card, which also contains an RFID chip.  This gives each farmer a unique ID, and each tree has a unique ID. The two IDs are linked by the TreeO2 app, which allows the program to record a range of data, including planting dates, species, GPS locations, circumference measurements, and farmer payment information.  TreeO2 stores this information in a cloud-based server, and this information can be analysed at any time.

WOS activity wheel

Current activities

November 2023

0
subsistence farmers, or 5% of population, growing and maintaining trees.
0
trees growing under management.
0
tonnes of carbon captured to 2019
0
tonnes of carbon projected to be captured to 2039.
$0
community income paid since 2010.

WithOneSeed Gallery

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The story of WithOneSeed – Replenishing the planet one seed at a time
WithOnePlanet – WithOneSeed open education
WithOneBean – Coffee with conscience supports Timor Leste
WithOneSeed – Economic participation
WithOneSeed – Regional partnerships

Do you know

TimorDo you know that subsistence farmers in Timor Leste survive on as little as 80 cents a day? The current World Bank poverty threshold is $1.25.

Timor fact #5

TimorDo you know that 90% of Australians have the internet, compared to only 1% of our neighbours in Timor-Leste?

Timor fact #1

TimorDo you know that only 50% of children in Timor Leste complete primary school?

Timor fact #3

TechnologyDo you know that it takes more electricity to stream a HD movie over a wireless network than it would have taken to manufacture and ship the DVD?

Technology fact #5

TechnologyDo you know that worldwide more than 500 computers are purchased every minute?

Technology fact #2

HealthDo you know that for every 1°C increase above the normal average temperature, there is a 8% increase in diarrhoea related hospitalisations?

Health fact #1

EnergyDo you know that 80% of global energy consumption is generated from fossil fuels?

Energy fact #3

TechnologyDo you know that on average there are over 3.5 million photos uploaded to Facebook every day?

Technology fact #9

TimorDo you know that half of the Timor Leste population live below the poverty line?

Timor fact #4

TechnologyDo you know that worldwide more than 3,000 mobile phones are purchased every minute?

Technology fact #1

EarthDo you know that children are more likely than adults to perish during natural disasters or succumb to malnutrition, injuries or disease in the aftermath?

General environment fact #7

EnergyDo you know that renewable energy is cheaper to produce than energy from fossil fuels?

Energy fact #1

EarthDo you know that reforestation improves soil and water quality, reduces soil erosion, and helps to restore natural habitats?

General environment fact #3

CO2Do you know that 1,811 tons of CO2 emissions are generated from the internet every minute? That is approximately 2 million tons annually?

Carbon fact #1

EarthDo you know that an estimated 650,000 people, of which 300,000 were children, were affected by back-to-back hurricanes in Haiti in 2008?

General environment fact #8

WithOneSeed

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