RAPORT VJETOR
KEMI MBJELLË 10,000 FIDANË NË NJË SIPËRFAQE PREJ 6.5 HEKTARË
FIDANËT DO TË KOMPENSOJNË 63,560kg CO2 NË 2023
Viti 2022 ishte plot sfida, por falë punës së palodhur të ekipit, rezultoi shumë i favorshëm. Përpjekjet tona të ripyllëzimit i çuam në një nivel tjetër duke mbjellë 10 000 fidanë, si dhe hapëm fidanishten tonë në Lurë duke bërë të mundur rritjen e 1 700 fidanëve të parë të llojit Pinus nigra.
Ripyllëzimi
Në vitin 2021 mbollëm 2 712 fidanë të cilët arritën shkallën e mbijetueshmërisë prej 78%. Ndonëse ky është një rezultat i shkëlqyer, qëllimi ishte t'i zgjeronim akoma më shumë përpjekjet tona për ripyllëzim duke shtuar numrin e pemëve të mbjella, sipërfaqen e rikuperuar brenda parkut kombëtar si dhe ndikimin në ekonominë vendase.
Në fillim të vitit 2022, vendosëm të sfidojmë veten me synimin kryesor që të mbjellnim 10 000 fidanëve Pinus nigra në zonën për të cilën kishim leje për të mbjellë. Duke shfrytëzuar përvojën nga viti i mëparshëm, bëmë një vlerësim të buxhetit për të gjithë operacionin i cili ishte pothuajse 5 herë më i lartë sesa buxheti i vitit 2021. Pasi dakortësuam kushtet dhe kostot e reja mbi materialet e mbjelljes dhe punësimin e më shumë vendasve, ishim më të vetëdijshëm mbi përmasat e sezonit të mbjelljes për vitin 2022.
Sezoni i mbjelljes u realizua në periudhën tetor-nëntor 2022. Zona u parapregatit duke hapur fillimisht 10 000 gropat. Kjo fazë nisi në fillim të muajit tetor dhe u realizua nga ekipi vendas, i përbërë prej 17 punëtorësh, vetëm në dy javë. Gropat nuk u hapën me makineri të asnjë lloji, vetëm me kazma dhe lopata. Faza e dytë, mbjellja e fidanëve, u kompletua në dy javët e fundit të tetorit dhe në javën e parë të nënorit nga ekipi vendas, i përbërë prej 18 punëtorësh, burra edhe gra. Gjithashtu, gjatë fundjavave u organizuan evente mbjellje për vullnetarët të cilët kishin dëshirë të merrnin pjesë.
Materiali mbjellës për operacionin e ripyllëzimit për vitin 2022 u sigurua nga dy burime të ndryshme.
Fillimisht u blenë 9,000 fidanë 2 vjeçarë të llojit Pinus nigra në fidanishten
Xhepi Sh.p.k në Fushë-Krujë.
Pjesa e mbetur prej 1,000 fidanëve, Pinus nigra 4 vjeçarë, u mboll në bashkëpunim me
AKZM dhe
AdZM Dibër
në një zonë të dedikuar, për të siguruar një monitorim të saktë për 3 vitet e ardhshme.
Fidanishtja
Edhe pse projekti i fidanishtes ishte një ndër objektivat dytësorë për vitin 2022, ajo mbetet si pikë kyçe për patur një qëndrueshmëri agatgjatë për pemët e Trees for Lurë. Prodhimi i fidanëve si lëndë parësore për mbjelljen do të ulte ndjeshëm kostot e blerjes dhe transportit të pemëve e për rrjedhjojë do të ulte gjithashtu edhe kostot totale të projektit të ripyllëzimit.
In 2022 we established a test tree nursery and tried to grow first saplings in Lurë. We secured suitable land and agreed with a local family to work in our tree nursery. Our local team collected seeds of Black pine (Pinus nigra) which is species we are allowed to plant in our planting area. In spring, we planted 20 000 seeds to grow an estimated 5 000 saplings.
The goal of the nursery project, in 2022, was to test the viability of the tree nursery at an altitude of 1 100 a.s.m.l, one of the highest in the Balkans. We needed to gain experience growing our saplings without any chemicals or fertilizers and using only locally available materials. We also wanted to keep minimum budget of €3 600 wit all the risks and unknowns.
We had mixed results; we admit that, but we gained tremendous experience to improve the nursery in 2023. Out of 20 000 seeds we planted we could grow 1 700 saplings which survived for the 2023 season.
While the results may sound disappointing, the reality is different. We know what to change during the 2023 season to eliminate main issues with excessive watering and diseases we experienced in 2022. We dedicated more research into the planting medium, seed preparation and improvements of the nursery infrastructure by building a proper greenhouse. We are applying these changes already, we have established a process for cleaning and stratification of our seeds for example.
REVENUE
Our revenue relies purely on domestic and international donations from the general public and private sector. We did not have financial support from any government agency in 2022.
DONATIONS
We want to thank all our donors for their support and trust in us.
Our donations came from 95 donations from donors spread across 8 countries (Canada, Austria, Netherlands and Slovakia, not visible in the graph), with German & UK donors contributing the most significant portion of the donations.
Regarding the donor numbers, the general public is our largest donor group. Corporate donors were growing in 2022, and due to their donation value, they contribute the majority of our donation revenue.
Donors donate via our website (20.6%, majority of individual donors) or use bank transfer (71.4%, corporate). You can find more information about how to donate and what services we use on our Donation page.
We also receive donations in other forms of charitable gifting from our partners. These include rental of the vehicles, planting material, audio-visual services or consultancy and guidance provided for free to support our mission. The value of these gifts are not reflected in this report, but we list all the partners.
SALES
We currently do not operate any business activity which would generate revenue in the form of sales. It is, however, our goal to create revenue streams to self-finance our activities in the future.
Being a non-profit organisation does not mean we can't generate sales revenue from merchandise, consultancy or services provided to the general public and corporate sector; on the contrary.
The self-financing strategy is a key to the sustainable operation of any non-profit organisation and provides much needed-breathing space and limits organisation reliance on the donors.
EXPENSES
The decision to plant 10 000 trees in 2022 has significantly raised our planting expenses. In addition, we made a substantial investment into our vehicle to optimise the logistics of our operations. Despite all this, the primary cost remained a contribution to the local economy.
Planting material 0,0% / €0
As our nursery was not yet able to provide planting material for the 2022 planting operation, we had to buy 10 000 Pinus nigra saplings from existing suppliers.
We selected suppliers for our reforestation in 2021, and with a larger number of saplings, we could secure better prices from the fidanishte Xhepi Sh.p.K. In 2022 we bought 9 000, 2-year-old Pinus nigra saplings from this supplier. We want to thank Xhepi Sh.p.K for their support and quality planting material which has a good survival rate in Lurë.
The remaining 1 000 trees has been planted in cooperation with Agjencia Kombëtare e Zonave të Mbrojtura (AKZM). The saplings were 4-year-old Pinus Nigra and were provided for free.
Planting expenses 0,0% / €0
A small category of expenses, such as the necessary tools, protection and miscellaneous items, necessary to execute planting events.
Compared to 2021, this category has grown due to higher expenses on the fuel required for the transport of the trees, our team, and transporting workers from the village to the planting area.
Local economy 0,0% / €0
This category includes accommodation, food, local team salaries, payouts and local contractors.
We are incredibly proud to be able to provide regular seasonal job opportunities in the Lurë area for men and women who help us plant trees as well as take care of the tree nursery.
Planting 10 000 trees takes a lot of effort, and we are proud that all work related to area preparation and digging has been done by the local team working for 3 weeks on digging 10 000 holes. We are pleased to see our team growing to 17 workers ranging from 20 to 70 years old, many of the men working with us for 2nd year.
Planting the trees in 2022 has been done mainly by the local workforce. We reserved only 1 000 trees for the volunteers who were planting over three weekends. The remaining 9 000 were planted by the mixed team of local men (10) and women (8) during the workdays.
As you can see, our expenses towards the local contractors working directly on the planting operation amount to 85% of all our contributions to the local economy.
Operational expenses 0,0% / €0
Operational expenses include all expenses related to operating the NGO, such as fees, taxes, salaries and equipment investments.
Salaries
In terms of salaries, Trees for Lurë continued to be a volunteer-based organisation, and members of the team worked for free. This however, will have to change in the future as the amount of work and responsibilities of the team members are raising.
Equipment
Vehicles were a large portion of the operational expenses in 2022, accounting for 89.5% of all operational expenses.
We decided to invest in our 1989 Mitsubishi L200 due to the requirements to transport trees, material and team to Lurë and the planting areas. Previously we had to rent a 4x4 car for every trip to Lurë, which costs €50/day. Arranging transport was also difficult and expensive.
We knew that in 2023 we would need to transport a lot of material for our tree nursery, and the frequency of going to Lurë would raise significantly.
Admin
We use clever IT infrastructure and donation management tools to minimise fees for running our online services. Despite this, we still pay fees when receiving donations via our website and other bank fees.
Tax & Fees
We pay our tax & administration fees as per current law in Albania.
Expense category brakedown details
- Akomodimi / Ekonomia vendase €582
- Kostot e akomodimit gjatë periudhës kur punojmë në terren.
- Administrative / Kosto administrative €120
- Kosto administrative si website (faqja e internetit), procesimi i pagesave dhe taksat ligjore.
- Kontraktorët / Ekonomia vendase €10,808
- Shërbimet që kontraktojmë në nivel lokal në Lurë, për të na ndihmuar në kryerjen e aktiviteteve tona.
- Ushqimi / Ekonomia vendase €195
- Shpenzimet që lidhen me ushqimin e të gjithëve që punojnë në terren gjatë sezonit të mbjelljes.
- Karburanti / Kosto gjatë sezonit të mbjelljes €1,491
- Shpenzime karburanti për automjetet tona.
- Materiale / Kosto gjatë sezonit të mbjelljes €725
- Çdo material që është i nevojshëm për mbjellje. Për shembull lopata, doreza, etj...
- Rroga / Kosto operative €0
- Paga për ekipin të Trees for Lurë.
- Taksa / Kosto operative €686
- Shuma e taksës që duhet të paguajmë në Shqipëri, në bazë të aktiviteteve tona.
- Transporti / Ekonomia vendase €1,122
- Kostoja e kontraktuar për transportin, në rastet kur nuk mund ta sigurojmë vetë atë.
- Fidanë & Fara / Kosto gjatë sezonit të mbjelljes €5,885
- Kosto e materialeve bazë për mbjellje (fidanët).
- Automjetet / Kosto operative €6,895
- Kostoja e blerjes dhe funksionimit të automjetit tonë, Mitsubishi L200 pickup.
- TOTAL €28,509
CARBON OFFSETTING
Forests play an important role in supporting the environment, habitats and protecting biodiversity. They also function as carbon sinks because forests are able to capture huge amounts of CO2.
Trees we plant will capture the carbon from the atmosphere for another 30 years before they get saturated with CO2.
Based on the calculation from EcoTree a tree can absorb 10—40kg of CO2 in a year. This number is significantly lower for the saplings we plant due size of the planted trees.
We used 5kg per tree per year for our calculation at the beginning of the report for 10,000 trees planted 2022 and 2,712 in 2020.
Trees for Lurë would not be able to plant trees or perform any other activities without generous support of our individual and corporate donors. In 2022 a large portion of the support came from the international motorcycling community either as direct donations or development of relationships with our corporate partners.
We have to give special thanks to Valentin Müller aka Valle on Tour who visited us in Lurë during his motorcycle tour through Balkans. His YouTube video of the adventure going through the Lurë spoke our large German motorcycling audience. We must thank to Katrin & Theodor Käuper, who despite being individual donors donated a large amount towards reforestation, we met them and their group in Lurë during their trip in Albania. Brothers Leopold & Adrian Kamp who we met again on their motorcycles have been doing monthly contributions through out 2022.
Huge thanks goes to our major partners risr/ from UK and Heldenwerbung GmbH (Shirt-King & Button-King) from Germany, their financial support made it possible for us to take on such abitious goal as planting 10 000 trees and execute the treee nursery pilot project. risr/ decided to make a single large donation, while Heldenwerbung GmbH donated €1 for each order on their e-commerce websites during several months.
Donations of €5000 or more
Donations of €1000 or more
Käuper
Donations of €500 or more
Donations of €100 or more
ALBA sh.a.
The Rocket Foundation
Valle on Tour