UN Billion Tree Campaign

Under the motto, “Planting for the Good of the Planet: The Billion Trees Campaign,” a site created by UNEP posted an appeal to individuals, associations, corporations, and entire countries to bail out trees. To avoid fraud, offers of assistance and donations were carefully scrutinized. This campaign is the brainchild of Professor Wangari Maathai , a 2004 Nobel Peace Prize laureate and founder of the Green Belt movement in Kenya , which, since 1977, has planted 30,000,000 trees in twelve African countries. Professor Maathai emphasized the need for a campaign: “Often people talk a lot, but do little. We do not chat, we work. Our goal is to make people understand the importance of taking to the streets themselves and starting to plant trees. I have no doubt - we will succeed! ” ^[2] .

Some people are unhappy with the idea of ​​planting trees. Kevin Smith (not to be confused with the American screenwriter), author of Myth of Harmless Carbon, says planting a billion trees will not prevent global warming . In his report, he explains: “You can’t just say:“ We have planted a billion trees, and that alone is good for the environment. ” It is necessary to carefully study the characteristics of each of the landing zones and find out where and what to plant ” ^[3] .

The World Agroforestry Center, an international non-governmental organization, a world leader in the theory and practice of planting the right trees on private farms outside the city, provides scientific support to the Campaign, advising which trees are needed for planting, where and how to plant them. Support is provided through the organization’s website ^[4] .

In general, the campaign has yielded good results worldwide. Obligations for planting 200 million trees were received from Turkey ^[5] . One of the schools in New Zealand planted 300 trees as part of the campaign ^[6] . Senegal vouched for planting 20 million seedlings. ^[7]

This campaign was actively supported by the Plant-for-the-Planet School Environmental Initiative, which was launched in 2007 by a Bavarian nine-year-old student Felix Finkbeiner . After the death of Professor Wangari Maathai (September 25, 2011), at the next UNEP conference in Durban / South Africa , an official transfer of the management of the Billion Trees campaign to a youth environmental organization based in Germany , the Greening Our Planet Foundation, was addressed on behalf of the audience on behalf of 14 year old Felix Finkbeiner ^[8] .

“We have little time left to prevent destructive and negative climate change for the economy. There are many solutions to this problem, and, according to economists, the proposed methods are quite affordable when comparing the economic benefits that will produce the result with the costs of the Campaign. Forest is a source of materials from which billions, if not trillions, of dollars of goods and services are produced worldwide. Forest is a natural resource, very important from the point of view of economics, which extracts carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and traps it in the trunks and branches of trees. Today, the area of ​​forests across the earth has been reduced by at least a third compared to what was once before. It is time to stop the extinction of forests, it is time to act, ”says Akim Steiner , Executive Director of UNEP. “I believe that the motto“ Planting for the good of the planet: the Billion Tree Campaign ”will be a symbol that marks the beginning of all those actions that will bring not only the current benefits of tree planting, but also future generations” - Albert II , Prince Monaco “By growing trees, we spread the seeds of peace and hope throughout the planet,” - Professor Wangari Maatai ^[9] .

• Tree Nation is an online community dedicated to tackling global warming. The goal of their site is to plant eight million trees in the desert of the country of Niger, the poorest country in the world, in the form of a huge heart that can be seen from space. The “Tree Nation” plans to sell these trees to various organizations and individuals around the world, and thus compensate for the harm caused by CO2 emissions, and among the tasks of a smaller scale - the fight against poverty in the country and the fight against desertification. The “Nation of Trees" provides an opportunity to plant trees on a virtual map. Virtual trees have their own blogs and profiles, while real trees are planted in Niger to combat climate change and desertification. The project will benefit the local population - its general well-being, and will also provide support in the fields of education and agriculture.
• "Planting for the good of the planet" , a UN project to plant a billion trees since 2007, is supported by young activists and students of many schools around the world. Planting so many trees should reduce atmospheric CO2 and generally increase interest in global warming.

• United Nations Environment Program
• UN Billion Tree Campaign
• World Agroforestry Center's Science Support Website to The Billion Tree Campaign
• Tree-Nation - A web resource plans to plant 8 million heart-shaped trees in the desert of Niger, the world's poorest country.
• Plant for the Planet - Support from Germany - Children and youth in support of the UN Billion Tree Campaign.