Money doesn't grow on trees

It's one of those sayings which, if you think about it, doesn't really make sense. Notes - everyone's favourite kind of money -are traditionally made from paper, which comes from trees. Ergo, money does grow on trees, kind of.

Recently, however, I've discovered another way that money grows on trees.

From this.. the jungle before...

To this... what the jungle has been turned into.

Over the years a small forest has developed at the bottom of my father's house plot. It looked more like a jungle when I first arrived (monkeys and exotic birds included), but with a few days of bush clearing, it took on a more forest like appearance. And it became clear that the trees which form the forest are fully mature. In view of this I looked into what could be done with them.

A fully mature eucalyptus from the grounds. This one was over 1m in diameter and 50m tall

Wood is a valuable commodity in Kenya. There is high demand from commercial uses, most notably from the construction and related industries. A surprisingly large number of houses in Kenya (including the one I'm staying in now, and am writing this article in) are built entirely of wood. Furthermore wood is extensively used in houses with high end finishing, for parquet flooring and general decoration.

Demand for wood is not limited to the construction industry, however. There are a range of other uses for which wood is demanded. Probably the most significant is as fuel. As previously mentioned, the proportion of households with electricity connections in Kenya is very low; supply is unreliable; and electricity itself not particularly cheap. Wood is therefore extensively used as a fuel for cooking, heating and lighting. Indeed the "heating" system in my father's old house is three fireplaces for wood fires.

This high demand for wood has led to a fast rate of deforestation. In the 50 years since independence (which incidentally were celebrated last Thursday), Kenya's forest cover has fallen from 10% to around 1.6%. The future trend does not look good either, given the rate of increase in Kenya's population; it is expected to over double from 44m to 100m by 2050. The larger population will demand more firewood, and the emerging middle class will want more wood for high end finishing. Deforestation appears to be a trend heading in only one direction.

Back to the mini forest at the bottom of the house plot, you can probably see where all of this is going. I've taken myself off the Christmas card list of yet another environmental NGO by selling the trees to a sawmill, who in turn (sure enough) will sell it to the construction industry and general public.  So effectively I've become part of the problem, not the solution.

In reality, it wasn't an ethically easy decision to make, but it was a no-brainer. Fully mature trees on a plot 6,000 miles away from my day to day job, and hence half out of my control. An expensive renovation of a house I'm not going to live in for some years (not the recommend way to start married life). Selling the trees killed several birds with one stone. To present a football (soccer) analogy, it was an Arsene Wenger move. Wenger is renowned for selling players near their peak (about the only player who he hasn't sold at his peak is Robin Van Persie*). And he sells them before other clubs pick them up for free at the end of their contracts so that he can reinvest in new players with better potential. This is a bit what I was doing here; selling an asset at its peak, before someone sells it for me (a very real possibility in Kenya when you are not around), in order to invest funds in something I hope has potential!

So after lots of research (such as how to measure the volume of wood in a tree - there is a formula for this) and running around talking to prospective buyers, another bit of chaos has been added to the trip-mix. While construction is ongoing inside the house, outside the house there are guys with chainshaws and heavy trucks are now passing through daily in order to cut the trees and transport the wood. As it turns out there is a lot, and I mean a lot, of wood. About 50,000 board feet... though quite a lot of it is proving tough to access.

This is what those beautiful trees are becoming. Feel my guilt!

Seeing the wood through the trees.

As for my contribution deforestation problem, the buyer I chose to work with is a reasonable man, and we are talking about planting seedlings when he finishes. They will probably never grow as big as the fully mature trees which are being cut now; that would require most of my remaining life; however, it will be a small contribution towards Kenya's fight against deforestation.

* Football fans could argue Nasri, Clichy, Song, Fabregas etc weren't sold at their peak. On one hand they have gone to clubs which win (more) trophies. On the other hand, they spend more time getting splinters in their rear ends than playing. Come to your own conclusions!