EUROPEAN TEAM

Being brought up by nature loving parents, Ralf’s childhood was partly spent in the Swedish forests and mountain areas. Since then, the interest and passion for nature and wildlife have always been with him.

Through his involvement in various travel companies operating nature and wildlife trips, Ralf soon realized the importance of protecting these sensitive areas. Upon researching the effects of global warming, it became apparent that a responsible travel company worth its name needed to build a carbon compensation scheme into its products.

It therefore made perfect sense for Ralf’s company, Southbound Travel Group, to partner up with Central African Wilderness Safaris and expand their existing tree planting project on the shores of Lake Malawi to form Root to Fruit in 2012. It gives him a great sense of pride and satisfaction to see not only the trees grow – but also the project itself and the people involved.

Ralf’s main occupation is as Managing Director for Southbound Travel Group, but running the European branch of Root to Fruit goes very much hand in hand with this work.

Poppy arrived at Root to Fruit as a volunteer in September 2019, initially for a couple of months to assist with short term management of the project. However, Poppy’s passion for the project, and for the long term vision for Root to Fruit saw her commit to Root to Fruit for a further year. Poppy now works between the UK and Malawi assisting with the development of the project, working with partners and with a vested interest in growing the project to reach future long-term targets.

When asked why Root to Fruit had become so difficult to walk away from, she explained “The project is unique as a carbon offset initiative. It facilitates carbon offsetting on behalf of individuals or organisations but simultaneously ensures the safeguard of the trees themselves, which are nurtured and protected for the long term. This is facilitated directly through the buy-in of the community, thus fulfilling the real purpose of a tree. Unsurprisingly, the longer a tree lives, the more it can give; be that enrichment of soils, increasing number of fruits, developed root structures to prevent soil erosion or better performance as a carbon sink.

The community element of the project provides a deeper and strengthened level to the tree planting. The trees become an inherent part of the peoples’ lives because they are the individuals and communities that benefit directly from them. Thus, this multifaceted model enables success for both the people purchasing trees to offset their carbon footprint and the communities directly gaining from the benefits of planting their trees.

Undoubtedly the truest way to promote reforestation is to encourage the survival of the trees once they are physically planted in the ground, and I have seen that the time invested by the Root to Fruit teams into empowering the communities to invest in the trees as well, can facilitate this.”