Haller – Enabling life to flourish
The Haller Foundation does remarkable work. It provides practical approaches to transforming communities and releasing many forms of potential.
What We Do
Our work is based on the techniques of the award-winning environmentalist, Dr. Rene Haller, a UNEP Global Laureate renowned for his restoration of cement quarries in Kenya.
We use a similar model of environmental regeneration to bring economic security to poor, small-holder farmers living on inhospitable land.
We address communities’ basic needs through an integrated set of programmes in water, farming, education, health, alternative energy and nano-enterprise.
Haller’s community partnerships are not quick fixes, rather they offer long term, life-skills training which empower farmers and their children to lead self-sufficient and sustainable lives.
About Us
Haller was set up as a charity in 2004 by Louise Piper and Julia Hailes MBE. They were inspired by the work of Dr. Rene Haller, who is most famous for rehabilitating a barren cement quarry into a flourishing natural park – now known as Haller Park.
In 1970, ‘Haller Park’ was an industrial wasteland. The quarry floor was barren and hard as rock, the air temperature was 40°C and the groundwater was saline.
Although reclamation of industrial wasteland was virtually unheard of in the 1970s, Dr. Haller set out to change that. He remembers:
“My vision was to establish a multitude of plants, providing food and shelter to a large variety of animals.”
Through careful observation of how plants and animals interact, and a series of trial and error experiments, Dr. Haller managed to transform the industrial wasteland into a flourishing natural park – now known as Haller Park.
Over 1 million trees were planted in the quarry, and a range of insects, butterflies, birds and mammals were also introduced. Each plant, insect or animal had a purpose to keep the ecosystem in balance.
Haller Park is now home to a range of endangered flora and fauna, and is recognised by the Eden Project as one of the ten most effective environmental restoration projects in the world.
