Adopt an olive tree
Apadrinaunolivo.org. History, tradition and solidarity to recover olive groves
Apadrinaunolivo.org was founded in May 2014. It’s a social, environmental, and rural development initiative arose from the search for opportunities to save 100,000 abandoned, centuries-old olive trees.
These trees are primarily abandoned due to the lack of people to care for them. Naturally, the elders pass away, and their children and grandchildren no longer live in the village.
We explored new technologies and digital tools to find sponsors to help us recover, maintain, and conserve these centuries-old olive trees for future generations, within a land stewardship model.
Our motivation was to bring these centuries-old olive trees back to life, trees that have provided for dozens of generations, and thus prevent their loss.
Our core values are achievement, unity, volunteerism, and community support for this sustainable environmental, social, and rural development project. And the most beautiful thing is having already achieved the recovery of 28,000 olive trees thanks to the support of more than 10,000 sponsors.
Saving the ecosystem, restoring biodiversity, seeing those olive trees that were dormant bloom again and return to their vibrant green. And, in addition, seeing the village shine once more with the people who work on the project, more than 48 people. We have also seen the village school flourish again, which was on the verge of closing and now has 27 students.
Our values also include preventing doors from closing and, on the contrary, ensuring that they open, that services and the quality of life in the village are maintained. Today we are a national and international benchmark for social, environmental, green, inclusive, and digital entrepreneurship.
All of this within a model of stewardship, of land stewardship, agricultural stewardship that benefits the landowners, the village, and the sponsors. Because Apadrinaunolivo.org is a non-profit organization, and sponsoring an olive tree has become a benchmark.
Listen to this story told by Alberto Alfonso, the visionary and co-founder of Apadrinaunolivo.org.
More information about the initiative can be found in the fact sheet and on its YouTube channel:
