Actress Joanna Lumley is urging people in Bristol to donate to a campaign to fight climate change and help 1,000 women out of poverty.
Lumley is the patron of Bristol-based charity Tree Aid, which has launched a three-month appeal to help women in Mali, West Africa, set up small businesses which process and sell shea butter and honey, and give them training on replanting local forests.
The She Grows project aims to reverse the effects of deforestation and climate change in the country.
Mali is two-thirds desert and more than 50 per cent of people live below the poverty line.
The burden of poverty falls hardest on women who have limited access to land and few opportunities to earn an income.
But the planting of trees will improve the soil and provide fruit, nuts and seeds for food and income.
Lumley said: “I have been supporting Tree Aid for more than 25 years because it provides such an effective, practical solution to the urgent issues of poverty in Africa and the environmental decline that so often causes it.
“Trees are being wiped from the landscape in the African drylands and the desert is spreading, making it harder for people, especially women, to feed their families and earn an income.
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“I urge local people to please give what they can to the She Grows appeal, knowing their gift will be doubled by our government.
“If ever there was a time to support a local organisation working on global issues, it is now.”
Setou Traoré is one of the women in Mali who will benefit from the Tree Aid project.
She said: “Trees are vital, especially for us women. Without trees, we wouldn’t eat.
“The produce from the fields has reduced. Farming doesn’t feed us anymore, the sources of income are weak. There aren’t many trees anymore. I am worried for my children.”
The She Grows project comes at an important time, with the UN naming 2019 as a “critical year” for climate action and with scientists around the world calling for reforestation to slow down climate change.
The UK government will match pound for pound any public donations between April 1 and June 30 through the UK Aid Match scheme.
Bristol businesses and community groups, including local theatre group This is Your Musical; Bristol Adult Ballet, digital and print marketing company Latcham Direct; and local TV presenter Professor Alice Roberts are supporting the appeal.
Tree Aid was founded in Bristol in 1987 by a group of foresters who understood the power of trees in lifting people out of poverty – and has since planted more than 16 million trees and supported more than 1.2 million people.
To donate and find out more, visit www.treeaid.org.uk/shegrows.
