AP Sensing Plants 3 Trees Per Employee Every Day

Today, coming upon the 3-year anniversary since our tree planting initiative began, AP Sensing has planted 166,000 trees! This is the equivalent of 3 trees per AP Sensing employee per workday, which is a significant contribution matched by very few companies. Our team – comprised of AI experts, software gurus, production technicians, project engineers and sales engineers – is proud of our societal and environmental contributions that go beyond protecting assets and lives with our solutions.

Our Project: Mount Mulanje in Malawi

Malawi has faced severe deforestation and degradation, especially in the last ten years. A healthy forest is essential to the water supply of the surrounding villages and local agriculture, as well as for the economic health of the country. The Mount Mulanje project in Malawi focuses on restoring 2 types of forests, conserving the forest and its biodiversity, creating employment and other sources of income to lessen the pressure on the forest, and supporting law enforcement activities to stop deforestation.

Project Updates

  • At the close of the 2021-2022 planting season, 27 planting sites were established: 23 restoration sites and 4 trial research sites. These research trials aim to better define the ideal growing conditions for Mulanje cedar, measuring several variables for the both the site (shade, aspect of slope, adjacent species, soil type, temperature and moisture) and the seedlings (source, root collar, diameter, height, internode length, leaf isotope analysis).
  • The first half of 2022 concluded the end of one planting season and start of preparations for the upcoming planting season.
  • 8 nurseries are raising seedlings to be ready for the new planting season starting at the end of 2022.
  • In recent months, firebreak construction and maintenance began in the Kazembe and Tchete blocks, where WeForest plans to restore 1319 ha (approx. 1 360 000 trees) of native miombo forests. Firebreaks are a crucial part of stopping the spread of fires when wildfires occur.
  • 400 new beehives have been handed over to beekeeping groups who are hanging the hives inside the forest. The honey from these beehives will be sold to create income for local families.

Why is AP Sensing Planting Trees?

AP Sensing began our partnership with WeForest at the end of 2019. After researching various options, we selected WeForest based on a combination of the company’s previous results, scientific approach to tree planting, and transparent project reporting. At the time, we selected WeForest’s new Mount Mulanje project in Malawi so that we could support the project over a long period and truly see the results from our contribution.

We plant 100 trees for every fiber optic sensing interrogator (DAS/DTS/DVS) sold as well as additional trees every quarter to offset the impact of our business travel. There are three important reasons that AP Sensing is planting trees:

  • Climate protection/C02 emission reduction
  • Forest restoration
  • Positive impacts on local community, water supply and agriculture

How do we know our restored forests are growing and making an impact?

WeForest has established permanent monitoring plots on project sites, where forestry and science teams conduct surveys to monitor progress of biomass growth, tree density, survival rate and species diversity, among other indicators. Additionally, WeForest measures socio-economic indicators such as the number of individuals or families directly benefiting, people trained, and income generated from forest-friendly livelihood activities.

Want to read more? Visit WeForest’s What We Do webpage.