Our Mission

In Uganda, in the foothills of Mount Elgon, farmers have long believed they must choose between trees and crops, fearing that trees are space-hungry competitors. This perception has driven widespread deforestation, exacerbating landslides that have claimed over 1,000 lives in the last decade, devastated crops, and left families starving. Entire communities are at risk of disappearing.

Our mission is to restore degraded landscapes on the slopes of Mount Elgon by challenging this false trade-off and demonstrating that trees are not competitors to crops but partners in food security, income, and survival.

Land Degradation in Mount Elgon

Over 95% of people in the Mount Elgon region depend on rain-fed agriculture. The widespread belief that trees compete with crops has led directly to the current catastrophe: loss of biodiversity, accelerating soil erosion, and increasingly deadly landslides. Without urgent intervention, more lives will be lost and the land will never recover.

Our Approach

At Bees & Trees, we motivate and inspire farmers to envision a win-win scenario that harmonizes agriculture, nature, and climate stability. Through our social enterprise model, we fundraise, train farmers in beekeeping and agroforestry, and establish networks of indigenous trees that restore the landscape while generating new income streams.

Agroforestry & indigenous tree planting: Stabilizing slopes, improving soil water retention, and enhancing agricultural productivity
Beekeeping initiatives: Planted trees nourish the bees, the bees produce honey, and we provide a ready market — creating additional revenue and a safety net during crop failure
Community sensitization: Shifting farmer perceptions around land restoration and the relationship between trees, crops, and livelihoods
Reforestation & slope stabilization: Preventing landslides, restoring ecosystem function, and fortifying biodiversity
Training & land restoration tracking: Measuring adoption of new land use systems and tracking the number of people trained in reforestation, agroforestry, and higher-level restoration