Trees, Water & People

The work of Trees, Water & People is guided by the belief that natural resources are best protected when local people play an active role in their care and management, and that preserving local ecosystems is essential for the ongoing social, economic and environmental health of communities everywhere. We seek to leverage our team's collective experience in agriculture, forestry, and renewable energy technologies to create a more sustainable future for communities living on the economic margins of society.

Trees, Water & People works in some of the poorest regions of the western hemisphere, including rural areas of Central America and Tribal lands of the Western US. A cornerstone of our strategy is to partner with respected, dedicated, and capable local organizations to implement projects. Working through local representatives ensures that our assessments of needs and appropriate solutions are contextually appropriate and more likely to gain traction. In ideal cases, requests for partnership and support come from the communities themselves, and are designed with a cost-share agreement or co-investment. In this way, we can co-design our offerings with the community receiving them, and ensure that they are valued once implemented. We position ourselves as conveners of diverse, talented groups focused on creating a space for rural farmers, researchers, students, and professionals to learn pragmatic approaches to combating climate change.

Trees, Water & People has been focused on rural economic development since 1998, both nationally on Tribal Lands in the Western US, and internationally in Central America, and the Caribbean. During that time, our staff and partners have developed an assortment of technical skills, broad networks of local subject matter experts, and a diverse donor base to accomplish our objectives. We have direct relationships with community and municipal leaders throughout our program areas, and logistical capacity in the way of vehicles, offices, manufacturing facilities, and warehouses to store and move materials as necessary. With staff members and contracted team-members both in the US and Central America, we are able to monitor and advance our efforts efficiently and effectively.

This successful model has earned TWP recognition including as the 2013 National Energy Globe Award winner, the 2009-10 Sasakawa Prize from the United Nations Environment Programme, the 2008 Rio Tinto Prize for Sustainability, and the 2005 Ashden Award for Sustainable Energy. We have also secured significant contracts from government agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of State Energy and Climate Partnership for the Americas (ECPA). TWP is a proud member of the Clean Cooking Alliance (CCA), an initiative involving the United Nations Foundation, Clinton Global Initiative, US Department of State, US Department of Energy, and US Environmental Protection Agency, with a goal to disseminate 100 million clean cookstoves around the world over the next decade.

Since 1998, Trees, Water & People has accomplished the following work:
o Trees planted: 6,480,713
o Clean cookstoves: 70,666
o People breathing cleaner air: 353,330
o Local people trained (International): 4,054
o Solar lighting systems deployed: 5,960
o Solar furnaces built: 936
o People trained (U.S.): 200
o Workshops hosted: 38
o Pounds of food distributed from Solar Warrior Farm: 4,000
o Tribal Trees Planted: 120,000+
o Constructed the Red Cloud Renewable Energy Center at the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota
o Completed Tierra Verde - Nicaraguan Center for Forests, Energy & Climate near La Paz Centro, Nicaragua

Underlying these accomplishments is our successful community-based development model, based on the philosophy that the best way to help those most in need is to involve them directly in the design and implementation of local environmental and economic development initiatives. This creates ownership, involvement, and financial sustainability well into the future. Our proven development model of training and execution, coupled with an enterprise approach, engages and inspires local residents to preserve their precious natural resources.

At TWP, our goal always involves building the capacity of those people and organizations that can catalyze a community toward change. One motivation for this is to create local employment and improve the quality of life in rural areas. Economic and environmental desperation in Central America drives migration, separates families, and leads to imbalances in a community's makeup. A key indicator of success for us is helping improve environmental conditions, increase agricultural productivity and diversify income sources, to the point where someone that may have been considering migration decides to stay. Unfortunately, the forces driving people's decisions to leave their home communities and countries are so complex, and so overwhelming, that even our best efforts will not deter 100% of these cases. All we can do is remain committed to ensuring that every dollar we spend is reducing the likelihood that families will separate to pursue a risky, uncertain future in an unfamiliar place.