The Plant for the Planet: Billion-Tree Campaign encourages the planting of trees in four key areas: Degraded natural forests and wilderness areas; farms and rural landscapes; sustainably managed plantations; and urban environments. It is a worldwide tree planting initiative, which is under the patronage of Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and Kenyan Green Belt Movement founder Professor Wangari Maathai and His Serene Highness, Prince Albert II, of Monaco. They have broken every initial target that was set and carried out tree planting in close to 155 countries.

Tree planting remains one of the most cost-effective ways to address climate change. It plays a vital role in regulating climate by absorbing carbon dioxide in the air. Trees also play a crucial role in providing a range of products and services to rural and urban populations, including food, timber, fiber, medicines, and energy as well as soil fertility, water, and biodiversity conservation. The Billion-Tree Campaign has become the private and public sectors’ concrete expression of concern for the phenomenon of global warming.

Realizing that a billion-tree target is not that ambitious after all, we echo the call for individuals, communities, business and industry, civil society organizations and governments to raise the billion tree initiative onto a higher level and restore the critical landscape of this planet, a landscape that will not only have aesthetic value, but more importantly, have the ability to preserve biodiversity and sustain the life of current and future generations.