Seven billion trees are public proof of action against climate change

The United Nation’s Billion Tree Campaign is a clear indicator of the public’s overwhelming desire to witness real, definitive action against climate change. The UN has just announced the campaign’s amazing feat of having planted 7 billion trees – one for every person on the planet.

For the past three years, millions of people from every walk of life throughout the world have been pitching in for the environment through tree planting. The 7 billion mark was reached with the news that the Chinese government has planted 2.6 billion trees as part of the campaign, bringing the total to 7.3 billion trees planted in 167 countries worldwide.

“Seven billion trees, seven billion commitments to action and seven billion reasons why governments should be inspired to Seal the Deal at the crucial UN climate change convention meeting in Copenhagen in less than 80 days’ time,” noted Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary General and Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP).

“When we first launched the Billion Tree Campaign in 2006, people truly responded. At first they planted hundreds of trees, then it was thousands, and then millions – and then we reached 1 billion trees. Then we made the bold decision to issue a call for the world to plant 7 billion trees, one for each person on the planet. And our target even got exceeded: the counter now stands at 7.3 billion trees. As the Secretary-General convenes Heads of State tomorrow for the Climate Summit, there can be no more powerful sign of people’s will that we need to seal the deal in Copenhagen.”

Fired up by its slogan “Every tree counts, and we count every tree,” the campaign’s phenomenal success is a result of the participation of people of all walks of life and from every corner of the planet.

Uniting the world with one common cause

The initial goal of the Billion Tree Campaign was to support the public’s expression to the challenges of climate change as well as forest and ecosystem degradation.

The Billion Tree Campaign has since evolved into a true ‘People’s Campaign’ – more than half (52 per cent) of all the participants are private individuals.

“Above all the Billion Tree Campaign shows that the simple act of planting a tree resonates and unites the child in the slums of Africa with a president in Mexico, or a corporate CEO in Paris with UN peacekeepers in Timor-Leste,” added Steiner. “It is the kind of solidarity that now needs to be expressed at the level of all governments and heads of state between now and December in order to move economies towards a low carbon, sustainable path,” said Mr Steiner.

The tree planting has become both an inter-faith and an inter-generational activity, with the trees symbolizing connections between children and parents and bringing together people from different religious backgrounds.

“Let’s plant even more trees to celebrate this wonderful achievement, the fruit of collective action from people all over the planet,” said Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Wangari Maathai. “By making the Billion Tree Campaign such an incredible success, people from every continent are calling their governments to truly start caring for the planet and to find unity in the fight against climate change.”

Maathai is the founder of the Kenyan Green Belt Movement as well as the Billion Tree Campaign’s co-patron.

“I have always had a strong belief in the symbolic strength of the Plant for the Planet: Billion Tree Campaign and I am delighted that it has exceeded our greatest expectations, far beyond the welfare linked to replanting trees, to benefit future generations, ” said His Serene Highness Albert II, the Sovereign Prince of Monaco and Campaign co-patron.

Proof in numbers

Since last winter, China alone has planted 6.1 billion trees, of which 2.6 billion have been given to the Billion Tree Campaign, bringing the grand total number of trees planted for the campaign to 7.3 billion. The government planted 260 different species of trees in eleven provinces around China, from Inner Mongolia to Yunnan and from Shandong to Sichuan.

This milestone coincides with Global Climate Week, an event launched to mobilize global mass action around the UN high-level event on climate change – including the Global Tree Planting Drive on September 19th where people were encouraged to plant trees on every corner of the planet.

A number of other countries around the world have planted impressive numbers of trees since the campaign was launched. Countries that have planted more than a hundred million trees range from Ethiopia (with 1.4 billion trees) and Turkey (711 million trees) to Mexico (with 537 million trees) and countries including Kenya, Cuba, and Indonesia.

Around nine million trees have been planted in and around refugee camps around the globe by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
The United Nations Departments of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) and Field Support (DFS) have also participated in the campaign, with thirteen peacekeeping missions having pledged 117,848 trees. Of this number, 33,184 trees have already taken root across various countries hosting peacekeeping missions.

The campaign, which encouraged the planting of indigenous trees appropriate to the local environments, has not only witnessed the participation and enthusiasm of UN staff, but also of the local communities in the different areas of operation.

The campaign’s universal appeal is clear from its success on social networking sites, with some 4,000 blogs adopting the cause early in the campaign.

Planting where it counts most

In addition to bringing governments to take concrete action to reforest their lands, the Billion Tree Campaign has succeeded in catalyzing tree planting from all walks of society, bringing together creative, original and pioneering initiatives around the world.

For example, one project, the Replant New Orleans Initiative, sponsored a planting of fruit trees to help breathe new life into a community struggling with the aftermath of the 2005 Hurricane Katrina.

The economic gains of tree planting are powerfully illustrated by the Appalachian Regional Reforestation Initiative. As well as being close to planting 38 million trees in the Appalachian region, the North American organization has also devised a green job tree planting proposal to stimulate the economy of Appalachia and reap the ecological benefits of a region-wide reforestation effort.

In addition, the Campaign has mobilized groups and individuals in post-conflict areas around the world, bringing the seeds of hope to communities in Afghanistan, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Iraq, Liberia and Somalia among others.

For more information, visit www.unep.org.