Target reached!
With £75,000 we can buy 10 sets of chainsaws, brush cutters and telescopic pruners, ...
ArBo Real
Sheffield, England, United Kingdom
Aim
To equip our farmers with power tools to manage their tree lots, vehicles to transport their wood & solar-cycle kilns to optimise its value.
The Cochabamba Project was established as a not-for-profit co-operative society in 2009 to help finance the planting and maintenance of tree lots on previously deforested areas of land owned by families of subsistence farmers, as part of the wider ArBolivia Project. Although its initial investment was limited to the settler communities of the Cochabamba Tropics it has since acquired a controlling interest in the local project management company, Sicirec Bolivia and has extended activities across the Departments of Santa Cruz, Beni and La Paz.
It now supports over 900 families and has established around 2,000 hectares of new tree cover, helping to offset around 500,000 tonnes of carbon emissions as well as improving crop yields, increasing family incomes and restoring biodiversity.
Since the initial business model was established in 2007 the "carbon market" has not been able to deliver the levels of revenue initially projected, so in 2014 the society developed a proposal to compensate for this by establishing its own timber harvesting, processing and marketing unit ( ArBo Real) as a way of accelerating and increasing its timber revenues through improved efficiencies in the supply chain. It was subsequently successful in securing funding for a project called “Harvesting for Timber” from the Dutch Enterprise Agency ( RVO in Dutch) under is "Private Sector Investment"(PSI) initiative.
Above: 1st Thinning (6 Yrs) - 3m poles
Whilst substantial progress has been made with the funds provided and extensive "in kind" contributions from various partners, ArBo Real's development has hindered by two major factors: Firstly a change in domestic banking regulations meant that the Bolivian bank, which had already signed a contract to provide the bulk of the match-funding, was forced to reduce its commitment from $350,000 to only $150,000. Secondly, Brazil’s decision to devalue its currency has lead to a flood of cheap imports into the Bolivian market and a corresponding slump in timber prices.
However, as part of our effort to find profitable new markets, we decided to bring some of our wood over to the UK and we now have a stock of wood from one of the indigenous communities we have been working with in the Autonomous Territory of Monte Verde, in the Chiquitania region.
We are now planning to develop a range of products from these native species, which are either lesser known or completely unknown here, each with its unique character but all offering exceptional durability.
Above: 3 of the species from Monte Verde; Curupau (top), Morado (middle) and Mora (bottom) .
Our Targets
In order to meet our commitments we need to invest about £150,000 (165,000 Euros) in capital equipment to help us harvest our families’ trees and transform the wood into commercially viable products. If we achieve this by the end of Februaru 2021 then we will be eligible to receive a final grant payment of 75,000 Euros.
The equipment we need most urgently is:
- £50,000: A set of 20 chainsaws, brush-cutters and telescopic pruners for our farmers to carry out essential plantation management (weeding, pruning and training)
- £50,000: A new truck to transport both seedlings and timber
- £60,000: Solar-cycle kilns to dry our juvenile wood as gently as possible to stop it cracking and warping.
By buying more essential forest maintenance power tools we can train more of our farmers to maintain their tree-lots more efficiently.
At the moment we only have one lorry with a hydraulic lift, which serves our main project areas in Ichillo province and the Cochabamba Tropics. We desperately need another lorry to serve our farmers in the northern corridor between Tumupasa, Rurrenabaque and San Borja.
Even after 12 years our tree lots are still not yet halfway to maturity and the wood at this stage still contains quite a high proportion of sapwood, which is prone to splitting and twisting as it dries. In order to minimise the effects of this on the quality of our sawn timber, it is vital for us to use sophisticated solar cycle drying technology, such as this Solarkiln Mini Pro model from Australia. We therefore need to establish a number of kilns for each of our processing centres.
Rewards
All contributors will be entitled to a discount on future purchases of either ArBo Real wood products or ArBolivia's Plan Vivo certificates (carbon credits), to a value higher than the amount of their immediate contribution.
We are still exploring product options with a number of manufacturers and designers and will provide news updates of developments in due course. These are likely to be outdoor products such as planters, benches and tables.
In addition to these longer term rewards, we will also send you a small hand-made gift as a more immediate token of our thanks.
Turned Wood Reward Items
£100 Rewards:
£250 Rewards:
£500 - Limited Edition Canvas Prints - Beni River
Product prototypes
Outdoor furniture designed by Trade Furnishing Solutions
Tree Lots
For larger investments of £1,250 or more we are able to offer a tangible investment in the form of a share in the timber , from specific tree lots of our oldest and fastest-growing species, palo yugo, which are due to be harvested within the next 3-5 years. We will also help you decide what to do with it at the time!
4 year old palo yugo plantation.
This project successfully funded on 25th December 2020