Beewise joining forces with WeForest

Since day one Beewise has always tried to find ways to benefit the world through investments. The most straightforward way is by investing in companies that we believe can help the world become a better place. That’s how the 5 thematic funds we offer on the Beewise app came to life. Our thematic funds invest in technology, the environment, smart cities, breakthrough healthcare, and future generations. These are all themes that we believe could positively impact today’s world. But we knew we wanted to go beyond that. We knew that concerns regarding the environment had become more prevalent over the past years and wanted to give our Beewise community the chance to be part of the necessary change. The change that will get us a few steps closer to restoring our planet. And what better way is there to restore our planet than through tree-planting? That’s why we decided we wanted to give our app users the chance to donate a percentage of their investments to reforestation.

About WeForest

Our first step to making this happen was choosing the right partner. After considering our options we decided to create a partnership with WeForest. WeForest is a Belgian-based non-profit organization that is fully dedicated to reforestation. The non-profit was founded in 2009 by Bill Liao with the mission of “conserving and restoring the ecological integrity of forests and landscapes, engaging communities to implement and deliver lasting solutions for climate, nature and people”. Since 2009, WeForest has grown 61,925,139 trees and is dedicated to reaching over 100,000,000 trees by the end of 2024. Today, WeForest manages 15 projects based in Brazil, Ethiopia, Zambia, Senegal, Malawi, Tanzania and India. For each project, WeForest makes sure that many factors are taken into consideration so their work can have the biggest impact possible on both the planet and the local community. To get the best possible outcome, they work closely together with communities, local organizations and NGOs.

What makes WeForest unique?

While WeForest is primarily dedicated to reforestation, we were very intrigued by the fact that they also contribute to the achievement of all of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This shows that WeForest looks at the impact of their work beyond restoring the planet. Their work aligns with Beewise’s aim to create a community that wants to make a difference through their investments. WeForest is particularly dedicated to the following SGDs goals:

• Ending poverty
• Ending hunger
• Achieving gender equality
• Promoting decent work and economic growth
• Combating climate change
• Protect, restore and promote life on land
• Strengthen the means of the SDGs’ implementation and revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development

“It’s not about planting trees. It’s about the overall result for the environment and the people who live there. Regaining ecological integrity to enhance human well-being is key to ensuring forests will be protected for the long term.” – WeForest

Beewise’s collaboration with WeForest

In 2021 Beewise started a partnership with WeForest so we could give our app users the opportunity to invest 1% of their investments on the Beewise app to reforestation. This means that on top of the minimum donation we have dedicated ourselves to as a company, we want to grow as many trees as we can through our Beewise community’s donations. For the specific reforestation project that Beewise donations go to, growing one tree captures on average 186 kg CO2 within the next 30 years. While we realize that the amount of trees one app user can grow through their donations might seem insignificant, we believe that as a community we can achieve true change.

The Tietê Forests project

At the moment Beewise is committed to one of WeForest’s projects based in Brazil. We want to help WeForest obtain the necessary funds to restore the Tietê Forests. Through this reforestation project WeForest firstly aims to:

• Protect water resources and improve the water supply for local communities. This helps transition the region away from the use of herbicides that can have long-term damaging effects on biodiversity, water bodies and humans.
• Increase forest cover through restoration and wildlife corridors that boost biodiversity.
• Scale up from 4 to around 15 municipalities over time. The first phase aims to restore 2000 hectares on AES Tietê landholdings (representing around 4, 000, 000 trees). The total landscape at this side of the Tietê watershed could eventually encompass around 15 municipalities.

We hope you enjoyed finding out more about WeForest and how donations on the Beewise app are put to use. If you would like to find out more about WeForest you can explore their website or Instagram. Also make sure to read our blog on other tree-planting companies if you are interested in helping out our planet through your personal actions.