‘Refugees and Restoration’ roundtable
Land restoration in refugee camps and wider communities has enormous potential to enhance the living conditions of forcibly displaced people and the ecosystems of war-torn regions.
To coincide with the official launch of the UN Decade of Ecosystem Restoration and World Environment Day on 5 June 2021, we were delighted to take part in a ‘Refugees and Restoration’ roundtable hosted by Tina Teucher.
Our Operations and Communications Director, Jennie Spears, joined 10 other speakers from regenerative projects, refugee organisations and funders to discuss why and how environmental and social problems can be solved collaboratively. Specifically:
- What if we transformed refugee camps into regenerative camps, for the people’s health, wealth and peace, for the ecosystem’s regeneration?
- Why are regenerative practices a good idea for refugee camps?
- What is needed to establish restoration projects in refugee camps?
- How can projects multiply, speed up and scale?
In our experience at the Lemon Tree Trust, refugees and internally displaced people (IDPs) want to engage in meaningful work just like any other human being – they do not need encouragement or motivation, but merely tools and education to get started.
That’s why our gardening projects, such as our annual home garden competitions, have not been set up with the primary objective of ecosystem restoration, but rather to help improve people’s mental health.
Gardening in this sense may be perceived as a powerful therapeutic tool, used to learn to cope with isolation, overcome traumatic experiences, and along the way, it produces beauty, belonging and food security.
Read the article summarising the roundtables
Refugees & Restoration: What if we transform refugee camps into regenerative camps?
Watch the recordings of the roundtable
Jennie speaks about the Lemon Tree Trust in session 1 at 33:30.
Session 1 Roundtable: Refugees and Restoration
Session 2 Roundtable: Refugees & Restoration
Yesterday, team members Hamid and Othman led a women’s workshop in Hêvî Community Garden, bringing together beneficiaries to learn, share and grow in community. The session began with an introduction to the work of the Lemon Tree Trust, our vision and our ongoing efforts across refugee and IDP (internally displaced people) camps. In places where … Continued
Noora, originally from Damascus, Syria, cooks meals that remind her family of home, using fresh herbs and seasonal produce from her small garden in Gawilan refugee camp, Kurdistan Region of Iraq. “My mother taught me to cook. Now my children help me. I never give up on the recipes that remind me of home,” she … Continued
As we reach the halfway point of 2025, we are delighted to share some of the impact your support has made possible across our projects. Thanks to your support, our projects are creating meaningful change for forcibly displaced communities, improving access to fresh food, mental wellbeing, and opportunities for connection and belonging through community gardening. … Continued