Everyone knows the difference Barker and Stonehouse can make to your home.
But did you know we’re also making a big difference to sustainable forestry and tree numbers?
Everyone knows the difference Barker and Stonehouse can make to your home. But did you know we’re also making a big difference to sustainable forestry and tree numbers?
Our mission
A decade ago, our managing director, James Barker, helped pioneer a new initiative in the furniture industry. Aware of the growing environmental challenge, and eager to bring about real change, James launched our involvement with the fledgling Trees4Trees initiative – a major reforestation project in Indonesia, focused on making a positive impact to the world’s ecosystems and communities.
The Trees4Trees project has since evolved into a not-for-profit foundation, planting more than 1.5 million trees and counting.
Our mission is simple: for every tree used, two more are planted.
This helps to offset CO2 in the atmosphere, and helps the forest remain a sustainable source of timber and a home for precious flora and fauna. We know we can continue to go further by working with local communities to plant higher value, carbon-capturing tree species.
Giving back to our communities
Our Trees4Trees project has not only helped to prevent deforestation in an at-risk region and helped towards meeting our carbon-offsetting goals, but has also reached thousands of families in Indonesia. Through education and community building programmes, Trees4Trees provides economic and social benefits to the farmers and their families working and living on the land.
Trees4Trees has already helped over 15,000 farming families by teaching them the skills they need to grow and cultivate high-value species.
Education
The Trees4Trees education programme covers a wide range of issues, from the best conditions for planting, to an understanding of the negative impact of deforestation. As well as practical agricultural support for farmers, Trees4Trees also provides wider education initiatives for their families.
As a result, farmers have changed their approach, introducing crop circulation and the planting of other valuable crops. Timber cutting is now managed sustainably, ensuring long term prosperity for local communities and protecting the environment.
See the trees you helped plant
Thanks to an advanced World Identification Number (WIN) system, customers are able to enjoy more than just the good feeling that comes with making the right choice.
Using their WIN, which is located on the furniture tag, people who buy furniture from the Trees 4 Trees collection can trace where replacement trees are being grown. Enter the WIN onto the Trees4Trees website and using Google maps, customers are able to locate where the trees have been planted, along with information about the farmer growing them.
George's Story
George Barker (pictured centre), the great grandson of the company’s founder, recently spent time at the Trees 4 Trees project.
See Daniel Saunders, Co-Founder, explain more about the work of Trees4Trees in this video
Watch an interview with George Barker, the fourth generation of the Barker family, talking about what he learned on his visit to the Trees 4 Trees foundation in Indonesia
