Victoria, BC - TheNewswire – July 24 2019 – Coffee farmers in Costa Rica just finished planting 10,000 tree stumps they received for free as part of an initiative by World Tree Technologies to tackle climate change. The trees will provide much-needed shade in about six months and farmers will share in lumber proceeds within a decade.

“We visited beautiful coffee plantations in Costa Rica,” says Wendy Burton, World Tree CEO. “The farmers were struggling because coffee prices are low. Our trees, which grow so fast they can be harvested for lumber within 10 years, provide them with a second revenue stream as well as shade for their coffee,” she explains. “Talk about a double shot!”

 

The Costa Rican Poro tree is commonly planted on coffee farms for the shade. Its lumber, however, is not useful, and the trees require frequent labor-intensive pruning. Eucalyptus trees – which produce good lumber – are another species often seen looming above coffee plants. But they compete with the coffee for nutrients.

 

Enter the Empress Splendor. Highly compatible with coffee plants, the hardwood tree produces a light-weight, straight-grained silky lumber that is 30% stronger than pine. The majestic tree can grow up to 20 feet in the first year, reaching maturity in only 7-10 years. An Empress, or Paulownia, immediately regrows from its stump when cut, regenerating up to 7 times before needing replacement.

 

 

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World Tree, intent on making it possible for everyone to reverse their impact on the environment, was delighted when they recognized a symbiotic relationship between its favored Empress tree and coffee plants. Both require the same conditions, soil and nutrients. Resilient and non-invasive, roots of the Empress run deep into the ground, allowing coffee plants to absorb needed nutrients first and leave excess amounts for the Empress. Beyond merely compatible, Empress trees even replenish and enrich the soil, bringing calcium, potassium, water, and other necessary elements back to the soil’s surface to further the health of the coffee plants.

 

“We are very grateful to be working with experienced farmers who are willing to take on the new venture,” states Burton, one member of World Tree’s all-female management team. “It’s a learning process for us too. It’s really great for us to be able to learn alongside farmers.”

 

The Empress – with broad, widely spread leaves bigger than a human head – is a veritable sponge when it comes to absorbing carbon dioxide (CO2) and serves as a wonderful shade provider. Shade-grown coffee trees are twice as productive as sun-grown and consistently yield higher prices for their higher quality beans.

 

“I’ve heard that Paulownia has many benefits for the environment and for us as coffee growers,” says Mauro Solis, one of the experienced farmers carefully selected by World Tree as a program participant. “The carbon capture is important for our sustainability, and we are also very happy to get the benefit of extra income in 10 years.”

 

Beautiful and beneficial, Empress trees are the fastest growing hardwood tree, according to the Guinness Book of World Records. This amazing tree captures more CO2 than any other tree – 11 times more! It also produces 11 times more oxygen compared with other trees, meaning one person needs to plant just 22 trees to be carbon neutral for 50 years. It was the obvious choice for World Tree’s 2016 Carbon Offset Program, especially given that Costa Rica aims to be carbon neutral by 2021.

 

Costa Rican coffee farmers like Solis fully embrace the program, which is backed by Canadian investors who want to offset their carbon footprint. It has also received the support of Juan Luis Chavez, Mayor of Naranjo, one of the best coffee growing regions in the country.

 

 

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“I am happy to think not only about the benefit that I can experience here on my farm, but [also] the bigger benefit, the change that we can do for the world,” remarks Solis, adding he is pleased to take on the challenge.

 

Let’s work together to help our planet, one cup at a time.

 

(Photo of Empress – either a forest or blossom?)

 

About World Tree

World Tree (www.worldtreecop.com) have been promoting the properties of the Empress Tree since 2002 and launched their Carbon Offset Program in 2015. This year they have planted over 50,000 trees with farmers in the United States and Costa Rica which will offset over 2 million tons of carbon over the next 50 years. They are expanding their program next year to plant more than 300,000 trees.

 

For more information, please contact:

Wendy Burton, Chief Executive Officer of World Tree

250 514 3002

www.worldtreecop.com

  

PHOTOS AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST

 

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