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UN: Seven billion trees to be planted worldwide



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A grass roots campaign to plant trees around the globe has announced that it is raising its target from 1 billion trees to 7 billion trees, the U.N. announced today.

The campaign, which is under the patronage of Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and Kenyan Green Belt Movement founder Professor Wangari Maathai and Prince Albert II of Monaco, also announced today that in 18 months it has seen two billion trees planted, double its original target.

The campaign was launched by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) in 2006 as a response to the threat of global warming.

UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner said today:

“Having exceeded every target that has been set for the campaign, we are now calling on individuals, communities, business and industry, civil society organizations and governments to evolve this initiative on to a new and even higher level by the crucial climate change conference in Copenhagen in late 2009.”

Tree planting remains one of the most cost-effective ways to address climate change, the agency says. Trees and forests play a vital role in regulating the climate since they absorb carbon dioxide.

Credit: Associated Press of Pakistan
JanforGore

24 responses // UN: Seven billion trees to be planted worldwide

  • http://www.tree-nation.com/
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    I'm a member of Tree Nation, which is also under the auspices of the UN Environment Programme. Their goal is to plant 8 million trees in the shape of a heart in the heart of Niger. This is a great endeavor and I believe in it because I believe that trees and planting them are the one cost effective and environmentally effective way to offset deforestation and provide us with carbon sinks that will balance out the amount of CO2 we are spewing into our atmosphere. The solutions to climate change are really so simple to me. Plant trees, and let the sun warm the planet and sustain it. Natural, clean, safe, beautiful.
    JanforGore
  • So true, JanforGore.
    Most Mother's Days, my family gets me live plants for the garden or fruit trees.
    The last few years, it's been fruit trees, and now we have a small orchard. No fruit bearing yet, but hopefully next year we'll get some apricots and apples, and maybe plums.
    The boys planted the fruit trees in a flat plaza like area that gets lots of runoff in rains from our flat roof and the dirt drive, important here in the dry southwest.
    A few years ago the pinon trees in Northern New Mexico was devastated by bark beetles after a long drought, so every tree we plant helps replace some of the thousands lost.
    TouchArt
  • i love it!
    spunkycarol
  • Nice one!

    AndreaKnoll
  • yes. beautiful.
    twodee
  • Sounds like a good idea, for a sort of modern day Jonny Appleseed. Let's hope wherever possible for the conditions that fruit, nut and other trees that bear edible parts are planted to double the benefits.

    The flip side is that the number of trees harvested has to even out to match the ones planted. The imbalance of the ones cut down is what caused the mess already.
    Argon18
  • Planting trees is a great idea and solution. But stop emitting pollution is a better one.
    ipodrulz
  • Cheers!
    nicsansone
  • http://rainforests.mongabay.com/defor_index.htm
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    This site has some very good statistics, charts, pictures on deforestation worldwide. I think the U.S. should start a Johnny Appleseed Society that plants trees throughout the country. I think it would be a wonderful initiative that could include young people. This past Arbor Day my son planted trees with his high school biology class and he had such a good feeling about doing it afterward. Tree planting is also about more than climate change. It is about beautifying our planet, giving sustenance, and also renewing the soul while bringing a sense of community.
    JanforGore
  • I planted two the other day. Will plant a few more this weekend.

    Great find. thanks.
    1Eco_Media
  • are any of the 7 billion being planted in the US?
    I need something to do in July.
    stephenthomson
  • I wonder how many trees need to be planted each day to make up for those being cut down all over the world?
    patsarts
  • We went on a camping trip last summer and at night when it was pitch black we went and hugged the trees. It was a mystical kind of experience because we had to find our way in the edge of the forest and make our way to the trees.

    Once our eyes adjusted we could see just the glow of the sky with the stars when you hugged the tree and looked up into its towering heights along the trunk. That was a really cool camping trip. I had always wanted to hug a huge tree in the dark and feel its massiveness. We are talking about trees that are perhaps 5 to 8 feet across and 50 to 100 feet tall.

    Up in the Umpqua National Forest

    Anyways I just love trees of all sorts and this is great news to hear of the planting of trees to offset the loss from deforestation.
    jubal
  • Wonderful!!!!!!!!!
    VoyagerFilms
  • What a sweet story jubal.
    ((( h u g s )))
    I think anyone in Los Angeles can plant a street tree for free, from the city. Any homeowner. But I live in an apartment, so I will have to buy my own trees to plant. If you own a house, take advantage and plant a free street tree.
    Julie_Soller
  • This is a positive and powerful step towards fighting deforestation and global warming. If we can get big projects like this going more often and in different ways, then this world could be so much better.
    dmass5
  • That is great news.
    Yihua
  • Great news, as an artist I use a lot of paper so Im glad to hear about the tree plantings.
    Ice_cream_Man
  • If you join the Arbor Day Foundation you get free trees every two to three months to plant in your yard for being a member. Minimum membership contribution is $15 a year.
    jubal
  • Yes, I belonged to the Arbor Day Foundation and got ten free trees a year. I gave them to schools and planted some with local parks. Good way to spread the message of conservation.
    JanforGore
  • Why stop at 7 Billion?
    brad62
  • Absolutely...I hope we get to ten million and even more.... the more trees the better. Not only do they absorb carbon, they also provide food and shelter.
    JanforGore
  • I have a hard time trusting this... I once met a man from Beijing who told me that the Chinese government was being recognized for providing transportation for students who planted so many hundreds of trees.

    Later it was discovered that once one group of students left the site, the freshly planted trees where being uprooted for another group of students to come in and plant several hundred "more" trees. Which of course they were the same trees being counted over and over again.

    It's a wonderful initiative that the UN is taking, but unfortunately it's not immune to political corruption.
    mariposablanca
  • I hereby volunteer my services to take care of each and every sapling!

    .........At the low,low price of .99 cents per tree!!!!
    tmaster

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