The founders
Over the past 10 years, JMl and its associates in Mali have planted around 5 million trees at a rate of 500,000 per year. At first, we considered having these trees validated/certified by well-established logics such as Gold standard, VERA or others...
Unfortunately, the difficult conditions of access to growers' smallholdings, their imprecise management of their trees, and the lack of resources and experience of the Malian institutions concerned have led us to abandon these international validation approaches. Our plantations are therefore not validated by these international instruments. However, we have organized ourselves as follows: All our trees are geo-referenced We know what condition they are in, and have been able to calculate their annual carbon sequestration by means of calculations carried out by specialized firms using the relevant allometric equations. We are able to have the existence of these trees and their sequestered carbon, which is at least 500,000 tonnes per year, validated by VERITAS. In addition, these trees are part of a CSR logic, since they provide work for at least 10,000 women to harvest their fruit. We will provide a flow of 500,000 tonnes of sequestered carbon per year for 10 years, and provide work for 100,000 women through their work in the cashew and soybean sectors. It should be remembered that Malian women raise around 8 children, and these additional revenues will help finance the schooling of a large proportion of their children, especially girls, who have difficulty finding their place in the national education system.
Olivier Kreiss and Issouf Traoré are the leaders in Mali of the cashew tree plantation, a 25m-high tree that produces apples and cashew nuts. This tree is a good vector for carbon sequestration. The millions of trees planted over the last 7-8 years are geo-referenced, and the calculation of their carbon sequestration is standardized and can be certified by independent expert firms. We have over 500,000 tonnes of carbon credits available each year. We offer citizens of the world the chance to participate in tree planting. As we all know, this carbon produced in the countries of the South and bought by players in the North is a hot topic right now, because the danger of climate and environmental disaster is now part of our daily lives. Our solution, a very small part of our solution, is to plant trees. It's our survival, your survival. What's more, by planting trees we give work to tens of thousands of women who also plant soya. Take your Responsibility towards Society and the Environment, and become a quality partner to develop this policy with actors in the North.
