Greening East Timor – one tree at a time
Radio National interview – Thursday 29 May 2014 11:39AM
SEEDLINGS IN A NURSERY IN EAST TIMOR WILL FORM A NEW FOREST (ANDREW MAHAR)
In East Timor, north of Australia, a typical wage for a farmer is around 80 cents a day.
So not surprisingly, rural landholders in Timor have jumped at the opportunity to boost their income by growing trees, getting paid 50 cents per year per tree.
It’s part of a scheme devised by Andrew Mahar, founder of an organisation called WithOneSeed.
Andrew Mahar says when Indonesian relinquished control of East Timor in 2002, the nation’s forests had been almost totally destroyed.
