Trillion Tree Campaign facts for kids

The Trillion Tree Campaign is a big project that wants to plant one trillion (that's 1,000,000,000,000!) trees around the world. Its main goal is to bring back trees to many areas. It also helps to fight climate change in a natural way. The project started in 2018 in Monaco. It was launched by an organization called Plant-for-the-Planet.

In late 2018, the campaign's website went live. This website lets people sign up, keep track of trees, and donate money. These donations help tree-planting projects all over the world. This campaign continues the work of an older project. That project was called the Billion Tree Campaign. It was started by Wangari Maathai, who also created the Green Belt Movement in Africa in 1977.

As of 30 May  2021 (2021 -05-30)^[update], 164 different projects are part of this campaign. So far, over 13.96 billion trees have been planted worldwide. This is about 1.396% of the one trillion tree goal.

History of Tree Planting Campaigns

The Billion Tree Campaign

The Green Belt Movement started its work in Africa in 1977. Over time, this movement planted more than 30 million trees. The idea for the Billion Tree Campaign came from Wangari Maathai. She won the Nobel Peace Prize and founded the Green Belt Movement. Once, someone from a company told her they planned to plant a million trees. Wangari Maathai replied, "That's great, but we really need to plant a billion trees."

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) launched the Billion Tree Campaign in 2006. Prince Albert II of Monaco and the World Agroforestry Centre-ICRAF supported it. This campaign aimed to help with climate change and other problems. These problems included water shortages and the loss of different kinds of plants and animals. The campaign reached its first goal of planting one billion trees in 2007. The billionth tree was an African olive. It was planted in Ethiopia in November 2007.

In 2008, the campaign set a new goal of 7 billion trees. They reached this goal three months before a big climate change meeting. That meeting was held in Copenhagen, Denmark, in December 2009. The 2-billionth tree was planted as part of a World Food Programme project.

In 2009, UNEP used social media to get people involved. They started a "Twitter for Trees" campaign. UNEP promised to plant one tree for every new follower they gained. This was from May 5, 2009, to World Environment Day on June 5, 2009. The campaign was a success. More than 10,300 people followed their page by World Environment Day.

The World Organization of the Scout Movement also planted trees. They did this in many countries. This was part of their mission to study and protect nature. UN Peacekeeping missions also joined in. They planted trees in places like East Timor, Ivory Coast, and Haiti.

After the Billion Tree Campaign

In 2011, a young person named Felix Finkbeiner spoke at the United Nations. He opened the International Year of Forests 2011. He said, "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."

In December 2011, over 12 billion trees had been planted. UNEP then officially gave the project to the Plant-for-the-Planet Foundation. This group is led by young people and is based in Germany. They had been part of the Billion Tree Campaign since 2007. Since then, the effort has grown. About 40,000 young ambassadors now share the message in over 100 countries.

In 2015, a scientist named Tom Crowther found something amazing. He discovered that there are about 3 trillion trees in the world. Later, he also estimated that planting 1.2 trillion more trees could help a lot. It could help balance out 10 years of human-made CO₂ pollution.

In 2017, Pakistan's Billion Tree Tsunami project restored a huge area. It brought back forests on 350,000 hectares of land.

On March 9, 2018, the Trillion Tree Declaration was signed. This happened at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco. Important people signed it. These included Prince Albert II of Monaco and Patricia Espinosa. Groups like the WWF also supported it.

In September 2019, the Plant-for-the-Planet app was released. This app lets people record trees they have planted. It also lets them donate to different tree-planting groups worldwide. The foundation does not take any money from these donations.

One Trillion Tree Initiative

The World Economic Forum meeting in Davos in 2020 announced a new platform. It was called the One Trillion Tree initiative. This platform helps governments, businesses, and people work together. It supports the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (2020–2030). This decade is led by UNEP and FAO. Donald Trump, who was then the president of the United States, said his country would join this initiative.

Main Ideas of the Campaign

The Trillion Tree Campaign follows some important ideas:

• Reducing pollution from fossil fuels.
• Protecting the ecosystems that already exist.
• Making sure that restoration work is good for people and nature.

Tree Planting by Country

China

Between 2011 and 2022, China restored over 70 million hectares of forests. That's a huge area! China has promised to plant and protect 70 billion trees by 2030. This is part of the Trillion Tree Campaign.

United States

The United States has promised to plant, grow, and restore about 51 billion trees. This goal is set for the year 2030. Right now, forests in the U.S. absorb 15% of the country's carbon pollution. With more responsible tree planting, this could go up to 27%.

See also

In Spanish: Plantemos para el Planeta para niños

• Ecosia