World Tree Trust was established by a group of volunteers and enthusiasts in September 2013. Led by Giles Andrews, and supported by Trustees Patrick Andrews and Rory Jenkins, WTT is managed from offices in London and Plymouth, Devon.
Giles has a longstanding love of the rural environment; having worked in farming and woodland management in his youth and having travelled extensively within tropical rainforests of SE Asia. Giles was horrified by the ongoing deforestation in many of these areas, and the considerable loss of bio diversity arising from commercial plantations. Giles has considerable experience in developing and running commercial teams and organisations. Having been in senior management positions, Giles has been a board director of a number of organisations including Public companies since 1990 and since 1998 established his own consultancy business that acts as advisors to a number of global businesses.
Patrick first fell in love with forests when visiting a tropical rainforest in French Polynesia in 1985. He was deeply moved by the abundance of life that he found. Since then he has roamed in forests around the world, from New Zealand to Russia, and now lives in a forest in Hampshire, England. Patrick has a background as an international corporate lawyer, having worked for law firms and large multinational corporations in 4 continents. These days he works with small businesses looking to make a positive contribution to the world. He is on the board of eco-car company Riversimple.
Rory is based by the sea in Cornwall. Throughout his career and personal life runs a thread of exploration and consideration of the interconnected nature of our world and our planet. This was first formalised with an MSc in Environmental Sciences from the University of Southampton. His work and personal life centers around helping consider resource allocation. Rory’s core belief is that “Only by continuing to evaluate the evidence, taking personal action and by trying to influence the action of others will we be able to collectively refine our understanding and strategies to improve our environment for the entire collective biosphere. Working with World Tree Trust is a great way to achieve this.”
What makes us different is that we seek to operate in collaboration for all our projects with organisations locally.
This both keeps operating and delivery costs to the minimum as well as affording local “stewardship” and “ownership” that we consider essential for such projects to flourish in a cost effective manner.
This model enables us to finance each tropical tree seedling for planting at less than £1 per tree including the carrying out of research to develop efficient methods to restore tropical forest ecosystems for biodiversity conservation, environmental protection and carbon storage. Each unit will have an outreach program to provide technical training, based on research, to a wide range of organizations involved in forest restoration regionally.
We rely on local volunteers but finance professional staff and seedling nursery buildings and equipment to provide the essential resources to best capitalise on this support.
Our project in Thailand, in collaboration with The Forest Restoration Unit (FORRU) and Chiang Mai University and is the first in this format that World Tree Trust (WTT) has undertaken and hope to develop internationally.
The offices in London are based at 24 Old Burlington Street, London W1; providing administration resources as well as meeting and office accommodation. This is provided free of rent and rates by property consultancy Andrews Denford & Boyd. The primary offices for fundraising and support are based in Plymouth, Devon.
We are an equal opportunities employer.