Tree Heroes: Lloyd Maanyina

Another inspiring individual that we here at Just Trees consider to be a Tree Hero, has got to be Lloyd Maanyina, a fellow nursery manager from Livingstone, Zambia and one incredible man who is doing his part to transform the world and the community around him.

In the video below, created by Makhulu Productions, Lloyd shares his story as he transitioned from a charcoal burner to a nursery manager. Charcoal burning and wood harvesting in Zambia is a major contribution to deforestation, one of the country’s main environmental concerns. For a long time, Lloyd believed that he had no other option than charcoal burning to maintain his livelihood, not able to provide for his family solely through the maize that they grew. In the video, he says, “I cut down so many trees – that I can’t count. I don’t know the number – it’s just too numerous… Because to us it was life, without charcoal burning, then it meant no life.”

Today, it is a different situation entirely. For a long time, Lloyd felt the growing need to change his lifestyle, understanding that if he continued as a charcoal burner, in twenty years time there may be no forest left. He decided to stop what he was doing “and stop it completely”. Instead, he aimed at starting a plant nursery, not for the money, but to make up for the thousands of trees he had cut down. As he points out, “Money wasn’t really all that important to me. What was really important, was payback time to nature!”

As if to affirm his decision to plant trees instead of cut down trees, Lloyd was given a piece of land by Chief Makuni to start his nursery. It is the perfect piece of land for Lloyd and the dream of his plant nursery has come true. Today he is one of Greenpop’s Zambian tree sapling suppliers and partners and continues to plant trees and continue with his constructive purpose to contribute and restore the forests around him. Watch the video to get the full story of this amazing man…