The United Nations Environment Programme has increased the goal of its worldwide tree planting campaign from 1 billion to 7 billion trees by the start of a UN climate conference November 30. 2009. Every $1 contributed to American Forests in support of the Plant for the Planet: Billion Tree Campaign will plant one tree in a Global ReLeaf Forest.

“In 2006 we wondered if a billion tree target was too ambitious; it was not,” said Achim Steiner, head of UNEP. More than 2 billion trees already have been pledged. The 7 billion-tree goal is equivalent to just over a tree per person living on the planet.
 
UNEP said that safeguarding and planting forests were among the most cost-effective ways to slow climate change, blamed by the UN Climate Panel on emissions of carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels in factories, power plants, and cars.
 
“American Forests is proud to offer its many tree-planting supporters the option of contributing to the Billion Tree Campaign,” Executive Director Deborah Gangloff said. “If we all do our part for the environment, we can grow a healthier world with trees.”

Billion Tree Campaign is supported by Nobel laureate Wangari Maathai and HSH Albert II, Sovereign Prince of Monaco. Gangloff added that she is particularly delighted to be working again with Maathai, who has been honored by American Forests in the past for her work with Kenya’s Green Belt Movement, and with HSH Sovereign Prince Albert, who has planted trees in New York City with American Forests in honor of the victims of 9-11.

American Forests’ Global ReLeaf Forests program plants native species in forest ecosystems damaged or destroyed by human or natural causes. More than 25 million trees have been planted in Global ReLeaf Forests in the United States and 22 other countries.

The idea for Plant for the Planet: The Billion Tree Campaign was inspired by Professor Maathai who is co-patron along with the Prince. When a corporate group in the United States told Professor Maathai it was planning to plant a million trees, her response was: “That’s great, but what we really need is to plant a billion trees.”

To contribute to the Billion Tree Campaign through American Forests, visit http://www.americanforests.org/planttrees/af_info.php?is_gift=N&campaign=Billion_trees
To learn more about Plant for the Planet: The Billion Tree Campaign, visit http://www.unep.org/BILLIONTREECAMPAIGN/