TIST trees are well cared for by locals who earn a sustainable living and valuable shade from planting and keeping alive their trees.
The real credit for the outstanding results of this program belongs to the local subsistence farmers who collect indigenous seeds, make nurseries, plant seedlings, and keep them alive through droughts, floods, cattle and goat raids and rogue elephants. TIST farmers are proud of the benefits their trees are having on their lives and on the global environment.