World: UN Program Aims To Plant One Billion Trees
By Jeffrey Donovan

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
Friday, January 12, 2007

January 12, 2007 (RFE/RL) — In the simmering debate over what to do about
global warming, alternative energy sources have center stage.

There’s solar, wind, fuel cells, nuclear, and more. Many of these seem like
viable alternatives to fossil fuels and were part of the sweeping proposals
unveiled on January 11 by the European Commission.

But some experts have a simpler, more direct way to combat global climate
change: planting trees.

"To plant a tree for future generations is a simple gesture, yet a strong
symbol of sustainable development," Prince Albert II of Monaco said in a
statement on the UN website. "The 2007 aim of Plant For The Planet — The
Billion Tree Campaign is to create an unprecedented mobilization in favor of
the environment."

Prince Albert II is the patron of an initiative begun this year by the
United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) called The Billion Tree
Campaign. It’s goal is to at least 1 billion trees in 2007 in a bid to help
stem climate change.

Deforestation accounts for more greenhouse-gas emissions per year than does
the world’s transport sector. That’s because trees act as "sinks" for the
environment — they naturally absorb carbon dioxide, a by-product of the
burning of fossil fuels and the main greenhouse gas blamed for global
warming. And that carbon dioxide is released when forests are cleared by
burning.

Inspiration From Kenya

The initiative was inspired by 2004 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Wangari
Maathi, the founder of Kenya’s Green Belt Movement, which has planted more
than 30 million trees in 12 African countries since 1977.

When she first began her project, Maathi wanted to address the consequences
of deforestation on Kenya’s rural population. People no longer had firewood,
and topsoil and water resources were being depleted by from deforestation.

So Maathi, as she tells UNEP’s website, started a campaign to plant trees —
an effort that eventually restored workable land to thousands of rural
people around Africa.

"We humans are only part of this ecosystem," Maathi said. "And when we kill
part of this system, we are killing ourselves. That’s what we have to
understand: that this ecosystem must remain as it is, it must be sustained.
Because in its survival, depends our own."

Just A Beginning

UNEP admits its goals remain modest compared to the world’s needs. It says
millions of hectares and billions of trees have to be planted to stabilize
soil and water resources and to meet fuel-wood needs.

An area roughly twice the size of Ukraine, or 130 million hectares, would
have to be planted just to make up for the loss of trees over the last
decade. UNEP says that would take 14 billion trees a year for 10 years. That
is, each person on Earth would have to plant two seedlings a year and care
for them.

So far, the Billion Tree Campaign says more than 75,000 trees have been
planted this year, but that it has received pledges for another 150 million
to be planted.

Hope In Armenia

That’s only a dent in the goal of 1 billion trees, but it’s a beginning that
is certain to grow if more organizations like the Armenia Tree Project step
forward.

That nongovernmental organization has made perhaps the most significant
pledge to date — a promise to plant 500,000 trees this year in Armenia.

The UNEP website offers plenty of practical advice to would-be planters,
including what types of trees to grow and a step-by-step guide to planting.

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From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress