Trillion Tree Campaign

Last updated

Trillion Tree Campaign
Formation2018
Founded at Grimaldi Forum, Monaco
Fields
Official language
English, German, Spanish, French, Portuguese
Parent organization
 Plant-for-the-Planet
Affiliations UNEP
Website trilliontreecampaign.org
Formerly called
Billion Tree Campaign

The Trillion Tree Campaign is a project which aims to plant one trillion trees worldwide. [1] It seeks to repopulate the world's trees and combat climate change as a nature-based solution. The project was launched at PlantAhead 2018 in Monaco by Plant-for-the-Planet. [2] [3] [4] [5] In the fall of 2018, the project's official website was published in order to register, monitor, and donate trees to reforestation projects around the world. [5] [6] The campaign is a continuation of the activities of the earlier Billion Tree Campaign, instigated by Wangari Maathai, who founded the Green Belt Movement in Africa in 1977.

Contents

As of 30 May 2021, 164 restoration projects participate in the campaign and 13.96 billion (1.396% of the goal) trees have been planted worldwide. [7]

History

Billion Tree Campaign

The Green Belt Movement began its activity in Africa in 1977, eventually planting more than 30 million trees. [8] The Billion Tree Campaign was inspired by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Wangari Maathai, founder of the Green Belt Movement. When an executive in the United States told Maathai their corporation was planning to plant a million trees, her response was: "That's great, but what we really need is to plant a billion trees." [9]

The project was launched in 2006 by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) under the patronage of Prince Albert II of Monaco [10] and the World Agroforestry Centre-ICRAF [11] as a response to the challenges of climate change, as well as to a wider array of sustainability challenges from water supply to biodiversity loss, [12] [ failed verification ] and achieved the initial target of planting a billion trees in 2007. [13] The billionth tree, commonly known as an African olive, was planted in Ethiopia in November 2007. [14] In 2008, the campaign's objective was raised to 7 billion trees, a goal which was surpassed three months before its target of the climate change conference that was held in Copenhagen, Denmark, in December 2009.

The 2-billionth tree took root as part of the United Nation's World Food Programme agroforestry initiative. The campaign's target was then raised to seven billion trees. [15] In 2009, UNEP mobilized action across the globe through the "Twitter for Trees" campaign. UNEP pledged to plant one tree to feed into the Billion Tree Campaign for every follower who joined from 5 May 2009 to World Environment Day on 5 June 2009. The campaign was a success, with 10,300 people following the page by World Environment Day. [16]

The World Organization of the Scout Movement also planted trees under the campaign, in line with its mandate to study and protect nature across several countries. [17] United Nations Peacekeeping missions also joined the campaign and planted trees within their field missions in East Timor, Ivory Coast, Darfur, Lebanon, Haiti, Congo, and Liberia, among others. [18]

After the campaign

Felix Finkbeiner addressed the United Nations in a  speech to open the International Year of Forests 2011, saying: "It is now time that we work together. We combine our forces, old and young, rich and poor; and together, we can plant a trillion trees. We can start the Trillion Tree Campaign." [19] In December 2011, after more than 12 billion trees had been planted, UNEP formally handed management of the program to the youth-led not-for-profit Plant-for-the-Planet Foundation (an organisation that had been participating in the Billion Tree Campaign since 2007), based in Tutzing, Germany. Momentum has since continued, with 40,000 young ambassadors spreading the message in over 100 countries. [20]

In 2015, researcher Tom Crowther found that about 3 trillion trees exist in the world [21] and later it was also estimated that planting 1.2 trillion more trees would counteract 10 years of anthropogenic CO2 emissions. [22]

In 2017, Pakistan's Billion Tree Tsunami restored 350,000 hectares of forests. [23]

On 9 March 2018, the Trillion Tree Declaration was signed at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco. Signatories include Prince Albert II of Monaco, Gyalwang Drukpa, Patricia Espinosa in collaboration with the WWF, WCS, and BirdLife International.

In September 2019, the Plant-for-the-Planet app was released under an open-source license. It allowed users to register planted trees or to plant trees by donating to different tree-planting organizations around the world. [24] The foundation does not take any commissions for donations made through the campaign. [25]

One Trillion Tree initiative

The 2020 World Economic Forum, held in Davos, announced the creation of the One Trillion Tree initiative platform for governments, businesses, and civil society to provide support to the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (2020–2030), led by UNEP and FAO. Forum participant Donald Trump, then-president of the United States, announced that the government of the U.S. would commit to the initiative. [26]

Principles

By country

China

In the years 2011—2022, China restored more than 70 million hectares (700,000 km2) of forests. The nation committed to plant and conserve 70 billion trees by the year 2030 as part of the Trillion Tree Campaign. [28]

US

The United States has pledged to plant, grow, and restore around 51 billion trees by the year 2030. Currently, forests in the country absorb 15% of its carbon emissions. This can rise to 27% with responsible reforestation. [29]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reforestation</span> Land regeneration method (replacement of trees)

Reforestation is the practice of restoring previously existing forests and woodlands that have been destroyed or damaged. The prior forest destruction might have happened through deforestation, clearcutting or wildfires. Two important purposes of reforestation programs are for harvesting of wood or for climate change mitigation purposes. Reforestation can also help with ecosystem restoration. One method for reforestation is to establish tree plantations, also called plantation forests. They cover about 131 million ha worldwide, which is 3 percent of the global forest area and 45 percent of the total area of planted forests.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wangarĩ Maathai</span> Kenyan environmental and political activist (1940–2011)

Wangarĩ Muta Maathai was a Kenyan social, environmental, and political activist who founded the Green Belt Movement, an environmental non-governmental organization focused on the planting of trees, environmental conservation, and women's rights. In 2004 she became the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize.

The Green Belt Movement (GBM) is an indigenous grassroots organization in Kenya that empowers women through the planting of trees. It is one of the most effective and well-known grassroots organisations addressing the problem of global deforestation. Professor Wangari Maathai established the organization in 1977 under the auspices of the National Council of Women of Kenya (NCWK). GBM's successes in forest conservation, education, and women's economic empowerment have gained the organisation worldwide acclaim. It is also noted for its advocacy of human rights, democratisation of access to public lands, and environmental justice issues such as the role of women's traditional ecological knowledge in addressing environmental degradation and desertification.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Afforestation</span> Establishment of trees where there were none previously

Afforestation is the establishment of a forest or stand of trees (forestation) in an area where there was no recent tree cover. In comparison, reforestation means re-establishing forest that have either been cut down or lost due to natural causes, such as fire, storm, etc. There are three types of afforestation: Natural regeneration, agroforestry and tree plantations. Afforestation has many benefits. In the context of climate change, afforestation can be helpful for climate change mitigation through the route of carbon sequestration. Afforestation can also improve the local climate through increased rainfall and by being a barrier against high winds. The additional trees can also prevent or reduce topsoil erosion, floods and landslides. Finally, additional trees can be a habitat for wildlife, and provide employment and wood products.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Business action on climate change</span> Range of activities by businesses relating to climate change

Business action on climate change includes a range of activities relating to climate change, and to influencing political decisions on climate change-related regulation, such as the Kyoto Protocol. Major multinationals have played and to some extent continue to play a significant role in the politics of climate change, especially in the United States, through lobbying of government and funding of climate change deniers. Business also plays a key role in the mitigation of climate change, through decisions to invest in researching and implementing new energy technologies and energy efficiency measures.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Great Green Wall (Africa)</span> African Union project on desertification

The Great Green Wall or Great Green Wall of the Sahara and the Sahel is a project adopted by the African Union in 2007, initially conceived as a way to combat desertification in the Sahel region and hold back expansion of the Sahara desert, by planting a wall of trees stretching across the entire Sahel from Djibouti, Djibouti to Dakar, Senegal. The original dimensions of the "wall" were to be 15 km wide and 7,775 km long, but the program expanded to encompass nations in both northern and western Africa. The concept evolved into promoting water harvesting techniques, greenery protection and improving indigenous land use techniques, aimed at creating a mosaic of green and productive landscapes across North Africa. Later it adopted the view that desert boundaries change based on rainfall variations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Environmental issues in China</span>

Environmental issues in China had risen in tandem with the country's rapid industrialisation, as well as lax environmental oversight especially during the early 2000s. China was ranked 120th out of the 180 countries on the 2020 Environmental Performance Index.

The climate change policy of the United States has major impacts on global climate change and global climate change mitigation. This is because the United States is the second largest emitter of greenhouse gasses in the world after China, and is among the countries with the highest greenhouse gas emissions per person in the world. In total, the United States has emitted over a trillion metric tons of greenhouse gasses, more than any country in the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">International Day of Forests</span> International day established by the United Nations

The International Day of Forests was established on the 21st day of March, by resolution of the United Nations General Assembly on November 28, 2013. Each year, various events celebrate and raise awareness of the importance of all types of forests, and trees outside forests, for the benefit of current and future generations. Countries are encouraged to undertake efforts to organize local, national, and international activities involving forests and trees, such as tree planting campaigns, on International Day of Forests. The Secretariat of the United Nations Forum on Forests, in collaboration with the Food and Agriculture Organization, facilitates the implementation of such events in collaboration with governments, the Collaborative Partnership on Forests, and international, regional and subregional organizations. International Day of Forests was observed for the first time on March 21, 2013.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative</span>

The United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative is a partnership between the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) and the global financial sector to catalyse action across the financial system to align economies with sustainable development. As the UN partner for the finance sector, they convene financial institutions on a voluntary basis to work together with them, and each other, to find practical solutions to overcome the many sustainability challenges facing the world today. UNEP FI does this by providing practical guidance and tools which support institutions in the finance sector to find ways to reshape their businesses and commit to targets for limiting greenhouse gas emissions, protecting nature, promoting a circular economy and supporting financial inclusion to address inequality. The solutions developed effectively form a blueprint for others in the finance sector to tackle similar challenges and evolve their businesses along a sustainable pathway. The creation and adoption of such a blueprint also informs policy makers concerned with sustainability issues about what would constitute appropriate regulation for the finance sector at large. Founded in 1992, UNEP FI was the first organisation to pioneer engagement with the finance sector around sustainability. The Finance Initiative was responsible for incubating the Principles for Responsible Investment and for the development and implementation of UNEP FI’s Principles for Responsible Banking and Principles for Sustainable Insurance as well as the UN-convened net-zero alliances. Today, UNEP FI provides sustainability leadership to more than 400 financial institutions, with assets of well over $80 trillion headquartered around the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Plant-for-the-Planet</span>

Plant-for-the-Planet is an organisation that aims to raise awareness among children and adults about the issues of climate change and global justice. The Initiative also works to plant trees and considers this to be both a practical and symbolic action in efforts to reduce the effect of climate change. Its motto is "Stop Talking, Start Planting". In 2011, it reached a goal of planting a million trees.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Deforestation and climate change</span> Relationship between deforestation and global warming

Deforestation is a primary contributor to climate change, and climate change affects the health of forests. Land use change, especially in the form of deforestation, is the second largest source of carbon dioxide emissions from human activities, after the burning of fossil fuels. Greenhouse gases are emitted from deforestation during the burning of forest biomass and decomposition of remaining plant material and soil carbon. Global models and national greenhouse gas inventories give similar results for deforestation emissions. As of 2019, deforestation is responsible for about 11% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Carbon emissions from tropical deforestation are accelerating.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Billion Tree Tsunami</span> Tree-planting campaign in Pakistan

The Billion Tree Tsunami was a tree plantation drive launched in 2014, by the government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, in response to the challenge of global warming. Pakistan's Billion Tree Tsunami restores 350,000 hectares of forests and degraded land to surpass its Bonn Challenge commitment. The project aimed at improving the ecosystems of classified forests, as well as privately owned waste and farm lands, and therefore entails working in close collaboration with concerned communities and stakeholders to ensure their meaningful participation through effectuating project promotion and extension services. The project was completed in August 2017, ahead of schedule.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Felix Finkbeiner</span> German environmentalist

Felix Finkbeiner is a German environmentalist and the founder of the international tree-planting and environmental advocacy organization Plant-for-the-Planet.

Plant for Pakistan (Plant4Pakistan), also known as 10 Billion Tree Tsunami, is a five-year project to plant 10 billion trees across Pakistan from 2018 to 2023. Prime Minister Imran Khan started the drive on 2 September 2018 with approximately 1.5 million trees planted on the first day. The campaign was based on the successful Billion Tree Tsunami campaign of the former Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government, also led by Imran Khan, in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in 2014. This different initiative is often confused with the initiative of the Prime Minister Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif who launched a national campaign of Green Pakistan and also allocated budget funding from the PSDP.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Crowther (ecologist)</span> British scientist specializing in ecosystem ecology

Thomas Ward Crowther is a professor of ecology at ETH Zürich and co-chair of the advisory board for the United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration. At ETH Zürich, he started Crowther Lab, an interdisciplinary group of scientists exploring the role of biodiversity in regulating the Earth's climate. Crowther is the founder of Restor, an online platform that supports thousands of community-led restoration projects around the world. In 2021, the World Economic Forum named Crowther a Young Global Leader.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elizabeth Wathuti</span> Kenyan environmental activist (born 1995)

Elizabeth Wanjiru Wathuti is a Kenyan environment and climate activist and founder of the Green Generation Initiative, which nurtures young people to love nature and be environmentally conscious at a young age and has now planted 30,000 tree seedlings in Kenya.

Green recovery packages are proposed environmental, regulatory, and fiscal reforms to rebuild prosperity in the wake of an economic crisis, such as the COVID-19 pandemic or the Global Financial Crisis (GFC). They pertain to fiscal measures that intend to recover economic growth while also positively benefitting the environment, including measures for renewable energy, efficient energy use, nature-based solutions, sustainable transport, green innovation and green jobs, amongst others.

This article documents events, research findings, scientific and technological advances, and human actions to measure, predict, mitigate, and adapt to the effects of global warming and climate change—during the year 2020.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Restor</span>

Restor, a research spin-off from Crowther Lab at ETH Zurich, is an open-data platform developed to support global efforts in nature restoration. It functions as a geospatial tool that enables visibility and data sharing for individuals and organizations engaged in restoration projects.

References

  1. ↑ "One trillion trees – uniting the world to save forests and climate". World Economic Forum. Retrieved 8 October 2020.
  2. ↑ "Trillion Trees campaign launched in Monaco by Felix Finkbeiner with support from Prince Albert". Monaco Reporter. 14 March 2018. Retrieved 5 December 2020.
  3. ↑ "Plant Ahead: the Trillion Tree 'revolution' to save the Planet starts from the Principality of Monaco". HelloMonaco. 12 March 2018. Retrieved 5 December 2020.
  4. ↑ "Felix Finkbeiner is trying for the trillion". Landscape News. 14 November 2018. Retrieved 5 December 2020.
  5. 1 2 "Rooting for Our Planet". Esri. 28 October 2018. Retrieved 5 December 2020.
  6. ↑ Hub, IISD's SDG Knowledge. "Plant-for-the-Planet App Supports Trillion Tree Campaign | News | SDG Knowledge Hub | IISD" . Retrieved 5 December 2020.
  7. ↑ "Home". Trillion Tree Campaign – Together let's plant a Trillion Trees!. Retrieved 30 May 2021.
  8. ↑ Simon N Gosling (2012) — Sustainability: The Geography Perspective, 13th page of chapter 6, University of Nottingham January 2013, — accessed 25 January 2020
  9. ↑ "The Green Belt Movement". www.greenbeltmovement.org.
  10. ↑ "Billion Tree Campaign - Green Earth Appeal".
  11. ↑ "Campaign to plant a billion trees within a year launched at UN climate change conference". UN News. 8 November 2006. Retrieved 5 December 2020.
  12. ↑ "Commit to Action – Join the Billion Tree Campaign!". Archived from the original on 15 December 2014.
  13. ↑ (content retrieved 13 June 2007 & 28 March 2016, source added 22 August 2013 (14:16)): link content unavailable - "Plant for the Planet"., (alternative source added): Achim Steiner (UNEP), in, Alister Doyle — More than 1 billion trees planted in 2007: U.N., Reuters 28 November 2007 - accessed 23 January 2020 (using "one billion trees in 2007 (achieved by November" with (google)
  14. ↑ "UN Billion Tree Campaign".
  15. ↑ "UNEP Billion Tree Campaign Hands Over to the Young People of the Plant-for-the-Planet Foundation".
  16. ↑ http://www.undp.org.tr/Gozlem2.aspx?WebSayfaNo=2035 (this source opens to 403 Forbidden - @ access made 24 January 2020)
  17. ↑ "Your Planet Needs You! Unite to Combat Climate Change on World Environment Day". Archived from the original on 22 August 2013.
  18. ↑ "Tree Planting Campaign Hits Four Billion Mark".
  19. ↑ Felix Finkbeiner addresses United Nations with speech to open the International Year of Forests 2011, archived from the original on 21 December 2021, retrieved 22 January 2020
  20. ↑ UNEP. (7 December 2011). "UNEP Billion Tree Campaign Hands Over to the Young People of the Plant-for-the-Planet Foundation." Accessed: 26 September 2013.
  21. ↑
    • (Crowther, Glick, Covey et al) "..approximately 3.04 trillion...", (Ehrenberg, using Crowther, Glick, Covey et al): " roughly 3 trillion trees on Earth"
    • T. W. Crowther, H. B. Glick, K. R. Covey, C. Bettigole, D. S. Maynard, S. M. Thomas, J. R. Smith, G. Hintler, M. C. Duguid, G. Amatulli, M.-N. Tuanmu, W. Jetz, C. Salas, C. Stam, D. Piotto, R. Tavani, S. Green, G. Bruce, S. J. Williams, S. K. Wiser, M. O. Huber, G. M. Hengeveld, G.-J. Nabuurs, E. Tikhonova, P. Borchardt, C.-F. Li, L. W. Powrie, M. Fischer, A. Hemp, J. Homeier, P. Cho, A. C. Vibrans, P. M. Umunay, S. L. Piao, C. W. Rowe, M. S. Ashton, P. R. Crane & M. A. Bradford (2015) — Mapping tree density at a global scale, Nature 525, 201–205 (2 September 2015) https://doi.org/10.1038/nature14967 - accessed 23 January 2020
    • Crowther, Glick, Covey et al, Rachel Ehrenberg — Global count reaches 3 trillion trees, Nature 2 September 2015, doi:10.1038/nature.2015.18287 - re-access made 23 January 2020
  22. ↑
  23. ↑ "Pakistan's Billion Tree Tsunami restores 350,000 hectares of forests and degraded land to surpass Bonn Challenge commitment". IUCN. 11 August 2017.
  24. ↑ "Tree-planting programs turn to tech solutions to track effectiveness". Mongabay Environmental News. 22 November 2019. Retrieved 22 January 2020.
  25. ↑ "Plant-for-the-Planet". plant-for-the-planet.org. Retrieved 22 January 2020.
  26. ↑
  27. ↑ Letters (21 February 2020). "Backing the trillion tree campaign to combat climate crisis | Letter". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 20 March 2020.
  28. ↑ "China will aim to plant and conserve 70 billion trees by 2030 as part of the global tree movement". World Economic Forum. Retrieved 3 June 2022.
  29. ↑ "Welcome to the U.S. trillion trees community". 1t org US. World Economic Forum. Retrieved 24 June 2022.

Bibliography

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.