Planting Empowerment grew from the belief that there exists a better way for Panamanian peasant farmers and indigenous communities to maximize the economic benefit from their natural resources. To this end, PE offers socially and environmentally minded investors growth opportunities in sustainably managed timber plantations that benefit these people.
PE believes that everyone has a stake in preserving the health of our planet. Marginalized peoples in developing countries, because they live so close to their surroundings, play a critical role in preserving the health of the world's rainforests. These poor peoples' good stewardship of their local resources affects the quality of our air, water, and food. When they benefit sustainably from the rainforest, the entire world benefits.
As of June 2008, PE maintains 50 acres of timber plantations that include over six species of commercially valuable trees.
Planting Empowerment does business through a more socially and environmentally inclusive model. Unlike most forestry businesses that buy land outright from local inhabitants and displace them, (and encourage them to homestead old-growth forest), PE's plantations are established on previously deforested land that belongs to local Panamanians. PE provides a lease payment to these partners that exceeds their opportunity cost from the land, along with profit sharing and educational opportunities.
|
