Plant a Tree

Years ago we started the Wild Roots Foundation to protect 10 hectares of ancient Santigi forest on Sumba.

Santigi are extraordinary coastal trees. Some are over 300 years old but only around 10 feet tall because they've spent centuries clinging to the rocks by the sea.

They were being dug up illegally and shipped to Bali, where they were sold as luxury garden specimens. After a few years they usually died, because they belong on the coastline where they'd spent centuries growing.

So we stopped it.

Today those trees are still exactly where they should be, and hopefully they'll still be there in another hundred years.

It's funny really.

Most people think Banana Industries sells bicycle tyres, saddles and olive oil.

Which we do.

They probably don't expect that we're also planting forests and protecting ancient trees on a small island in Indonesia.

None of this happens without the people of Sumba.

The local villages, schools and community have embraced the project. Children are learning about reforestation from primary school onwards, and village leaders have helped identify planting sites across the island.

A special mention goes to Wira and our Indonesian team.

They make things happen in days and weeks, not years and committees.

6,000 trees won't save the planet.

But they're a pretty good place to start.

As Sean Bean's Major Sharpe would probably put it:

"Right then... let's get those bloody trees planted."