The impact of man on the world suffered a huge growth in the last decades. From land to water, air and people: pollution and destructive interventions have seriously damaged our planet, leaving a non-reversible mark. But there are reforestation projects and initiatives that you can support to help change direction.
THE ISSUE OF DESERTIFICATION
The word desertification immediately recalls the expansion of deserts. However, by this term we mean, more generically, land degradation in parts of the world that suffers from water scarcity. This deterioration is due to the decline in soil quality, which becomes less and less able to support crops, livestock and wildlife.
Land desertification represents an issue that even if not particularly debated has a huge impact on the environment and people. According to the Global Atlas of Desertification, more than 75% of global soil is already degraded to some degree. What is worrying is that this percentage could reach 90% by 2050.
CAUSES OF DESERTIFICATION
Aridity is a natural climatic feature caused by low rainfall and high temperatures. It is a phenomenon that affects 47% of the earth’s surface area, where around 2 billion people live. However, over-exploitation of these areas is putting the survival of these inhabitants to the test due to the emergence of the phenomenon of desertification. Not surprisingly, around 50 million of these people may be thinking of moving by 2030.
Although desertification often results from natural droughts and water shortages, the most significant causes are linked to human activity. In fact, this phenomenon is mainly due to the inability to manage land in a sustainable manner and to climate change. In both cases, man is always responsible.
- The inability to manage soil in a sustainable way is due to factors such as deforestation, intensive grazing, over-exploitation of land for crops and inappropriate irrigation. Destroying a forest, for example, means altering the balance of nutrients in the soil. The removal of plants that regulate the water cycle leads to increased drought in deforested regions. Furthermore, the decision to remove trees is often due to the need to make room for pasture or intensive cultivation. In turn, these cultivated areas exploit the land as much as possible, sacrificing biodiversity and soon exhausting soil resources.
- Climate change includes natural variations in climate and global warming because of man-made greenhouse gas emissions.
THE POWER OF TREES: REFORESTATION OF THE LANDSCAPE
The solution? Of course, man can stop or limit bad practices, but there are several reforestation projects you can support. Planting trees in desertified areas helps the soil to regenerate, thus allowing local populations to find new employment opportunities and change their lives.
LAND collection: R3UNITE and Green Ethiopia together for the reforestation
Green Ethiopia is a foundation that has been active for years in the fight against land degradation. They carry out reforestation projects that can significantly improve the living conditions of local people. This is why at R3UNITE we chose Green Ethiopia as a partner for our first release, the LAND collection.
The project is in close collaboration with farmer and women associations. Thanks to the reforestation, Green Ethiopia is fighting erosion and supports Ethiopian agriculture, creating new hectares of cultivable land and improving water supply.
With our help, Green Ethiopia will plant a new forest of 30.000 trees in the “Gulemakeda” Area, 30km North/North-west of the Adigrat town. The new Gulemakeda Forest will sequester 600 tons of CO2/yr and will help people change their lives finding new employment starting the production of wild coffee. To make this possible, part of the proceeds from the sale of the LAND collection will be donated to Green Ethiopia.
R3UNITE strongly supports sustainability and this is why we chose Green Ethiopia as a partner. Sharing the same commitment to the environment, together we will help the world to change through fashion. That is our business. That is how we want to rethink fashion giving back to the world what we took from it.
Discover the LAND collection and help us contribute to the well-being of the planet.
