Billion tree campaign launched in Nairobi

Billion tree campaign launched in Nairobi
mongabay.com
November 13, 2006

The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) has launched a campaign to plant a billion trees within a year. The campaign was announced last week at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Nairobi, Kenya.

UNEP says that reforesting millions of hectares of degraded land can help fight global warming, restore soil productivity, and slow desertification. It notes that 130 million hectares of some 140 billion trees ("14 billion trees every year for 10 consecutive years") would need to be planted just to make up for forest loss over the past ten years.

The Plant for the Planet: Billion Tree Campaign is backed by Nobel Peace Prize laureate and Green Belt Movement activist Wangari Maathai, Prince Albert II of Monaco, the World Agroforestry Centre-ICRAF, and UNEP.

Teak seedlings in Sulawesi, Indonesia

“The campaign, which aims to plant a minimum of 1 billion trees in 2007, offers a direct and straight-forward path down which all sectors of society can step to contribute to meeting the climate change challenge.” said UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner. “The Billion Tree Campaign is but an acorn, but it can also be practically and symbolically a significant expression of our common determination to make a difference in developing and developed countries alike. We have but a short time to avert serious climate change. We need action."

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