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Let's Plant Addis is a joint reforestation project in Ethiopia, launched by Let's Plant e.V. in cooperation with the environmental group of the German School in Addis Ababa (DBSAA) and the Ethiopian Forestry Research Institute (EEFRI) in 2020. The goals of the project are:

1. 10,000 trees of local tree species are to be planted on an eroded/deforested area.
2. The trees are to be cared for over a long period of time so that they can establish themselves sustainably. 
3. The students are to be involved in the reforestation process, actively shape the project, gain experience and develop an awareness of sustainable reforestation.

With the help of EEFRI, an area of about 4ha near Bishoftu was identified and recruited for the project. The local tree species Olea africana (African olive tree) and Juniperus procera (East African juniper) emerged as suitable species for the area. A total of 10,000 seedlings of both species were grown between October 2020 and June 2021 in a self-built nursery on the DBSAA premises and at the forestry Institute. In July and August 2021, the seedlings were planted out on the site with the support of EEFRI and local labor. Currently, the seedlings are watered and protected from animal browsing by guards. Our president visited the area in September 2021 and interacted with our local partners.

Here are some impressions of the project:

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Milestones that have already been achieved:

• Preparation of a small tree nursery on the premises of the German school.
• Procurement of the 10,000 seeds.
• Sowing of 750 seeds on the premises of the German school.
• Sowing of the remaining seeds at the forestry institute.
• Integration of the planting campaign into the curriculum of the German school (e.g. within the framework of working groups).
• Announcement of the project in the Bonn area (e.g. newspaper article in the General-Anzeiger).
• Localization and acquisition of a suitable area.
• Planting of the seedlings on the area.

For the project we still need donations for

• Construction of a fence to protect against browsing by wild animals
• Irrigation of the plants
• Paying local laborers to assist with irrigation
• Donations to date have been used to purchase the seeds and nursery stock, provide irrigation to date, and plant the seedlings on the site.

In addition to support from committed private individuals, we have received an initial financing from Deutsche Telekom and the non-profit organization Menschenfreude.org financed 1,500 trees. Many thanks to all previous donors! Overall, we have achieved around a third of our donation target for this project. Therefore, the following still applies: every donation helps to advance the project and to plant Addis!

During a public relations event in June 2023 Mrs. Katharina Pfeiffer, the owner of the hotel "ZweiLinden" in Meckenheim became interested in Let's Plant and its project "Let's Plant Addis". Mrs. Pfeiffer has been a long-term supporter of sustainable environmental protection projects and was especially thrilled by the fact that Let's Plant e.V. is located in her hometown. The initial contact evolved into a cooperation: The hotel donates 1.00 € for each time a guest forgoes the tidy up of the room in order to support the reforestation of trees.

or easily via

You are very welcome to share our German project flyer as well! The flyer can be downloaded here: Flyer Let's Plant Addis

Companies and Organisations, which support this project:

This year the joint photo competition by Let's Plant e.V. and the Tropentag Conference celebrates its fifth anniversary! It's already for the fifth time we are organising the international photo competition on our core concern: to upgrade / improve degraded land in the sense of holistic landscape management. The call for proposals takes place in cooperation with the `Tropentag 2024' conference.
The idea of the photo competition is to find pictures and photo reports on the topic that are as expressive as possible. In this way, interesting, promising and emotionally appealing approaches should be collected and made known.
As in the previous years, the two categories of the competition are:

1. Best single picture
2. Best photo story (max 10 photos)

An informative title and a small history and (scientific) background information should be provided for each submission. Submissions should be sent to fotocontest@lets-plant.org. A jury made up of members of Let’s Plant, the organisers of Tropentag 2024 and, if applicable, expert sponsors, will review the entries and prepare a ranking list. Depending on the number of entries, one, two or three winners will be selected and exhibited on the homepages of Tropentag 2024 and of the Let's Plant e.V..

By submitting, the sender agrees to provide a non-exclusive right to the NGO Let's Plant e.V. to use the pictures and the accompanying texts for non-commercial purposes, in particular for exhibitions in print and online, always acknowledging and mentioning the sender/copyright holder. In cooperation with appropriate sponsors, Let's Plant offers to organise publicly accessible exhibitions of the best placed photos.

Deadline for the submission of your photos is August 31, 2024.

The Results of the Photo Competition 2023

In September 2023 the conference took place on the campus of the Humbold University in Berlin. During the conference we had the chance to exhibit the winning photos of the previous years!

Also in 2023 many great photos had been submitted. We thank all participant for their contributions! The results are:

Category single photo:

1^nd place: Abdullah Thaseem Muhammed Shah. See photo.
2^nd place: Lilli Scheiterle. See photo.
3^rd place: Die-Yacine KA. See photo.

Category photo stories:

1^st place: Kateryna Tuzhyk. See photos.
2^nd place: Simon Lotz. See photos.
3^rd place: Aung Zaw Oo. See photos.

The Results of the Photo Competition 2022

Already for the third time, Let's Plant e.V. has held a photo competition together with the Tropentag conference. Many interesting photos have been submitted. We thank all participant for their contributions! The results are:

Category single photo:

1^st place: Chan Nandar. See photo.
2^nd place: Marta Kifleab. See photo.
3^rd place: Gabriella Troare. See photo.

Category photo stories:

1^st place: Giovanna Chavez. See photos.
2^nd place: Veronica Mwangi. See photos.
3^rd place: Kataryna Tuzhyk. See photos.
3^rd place: Lea-Sophie Hansen. See photos.

The winning photos of the 2022 photo competition as well as those of 2021 and 2020 will be exhibited in the cafeteria of the GIZ headquarters in Bonn during January and February 2023.

The Results of the Photo Competition 2021

Once again, many interesting photos were submitted as part of Tropentag 2021. We thank all participant for their fantastic contributions! Here are the results:

Category single photo:

1^st place: Sarada Thapa. See photos.
2^nd place: Toán Nguyen. See photos.
3^rd place: Toán Nguyen. See photos.

Category photo stories:

1^st place: Shibire Bekele. See photos.
2^nd place: Giovanna Chavez. See photos.
2^nd place: Inga Nienkerke. See photos.

Some of the winning photos were exhibited in the Botanical garden of the University of Bonn during the summer months of 2022.

The Results of the Photo Competition 2020

At Tropentag 2020, Let's Plant hosted this photo competition for the first time. Many interesting photos were submitted - from over 18 countries and 4 continents! The jury ranked them and the results were presented during Tropentag 2020. We thank all participant for their fantastic contributions! Here are the results:

Category single photo:

1^st place: Rex Parro. See photos.
2^nd place: Julian Neef. See photos.
3^rd place: Sushma Banjara. See photos.

Category photo stories:

1^st place: Jakob Scheler. See photos.
2^nd place: Teresa Rojas. See photos.
3^rd place: Elio Guarionex. See photos.

Some of the winner photos are exhibited in the framework of the project Zeitenwende in the Kottenforest (near Bonn). The exhibition can be reached by this route.

Companies and Organisations, which support this project:

Climate change is one of the biggest problems humanity will have to tackle in the coming years. One of the most appropriate measures to combat global warming is planting trees. Trees have the amazing ability to provide various ecosystem services - and for free! Among other things, they store large amounts of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide, clean the air, have a cooling effect on their surroundings through their transpiration, have positive effects on wildlife and biodiversity and provide people with food and oxygen.
It's actually pretty easy, isn't it? You just have to plant more trees! Unfortunately, this awareness has not yet reached everyone. So we want to change that by raising awareness of the importance of planting and reforestation projects. We do this, for example, by convening discussion groups where people can come together and discuss things with one another, organize thematic film presentations, report on various projects such as our planting project in Ethiopia, in regional daily newspapers, at trade fairs and at presentations, carry out campaigns with schools and host an annual photo contest on improving degraded landscapes. Since these actions are often associated with financial outlay, every donation helps to carry the idea and awareness out into the world: Let's Plant!

Companies and Organisations, which support this project: