The Green Belt Movement began planting trees in Africa in 1977, eventually more than 30 million trees. The Billion Tree Campaign was launched in 2006 by the United Nations Environment Programme as a response to the challenges of climate change, as well as to a wider array of sustainability challenges from water supply to biodiversity loss, and achieved the initial target of planting a billion trees in 2007. In 2008, the campaign's objective was raised to 7 billion trees – surpassed three months before its target of the climate change conference that was held in Copenhagen, Denmark in December 2009. Felix Finkbeiner addressed the United Nations in a speech to open the International Year of Forests 2011, saying: “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, after more than 12 billion trees had been planted, UNEP formally handed management of the program to the youth-led not-for-profit Plant-for-the-Planet Foundation, based in Tutzing, Germany. Momentum has since continued, with 40,000 young ambassadors spreading the message in over 100 countries. By 2020 the app had been released under an open-source license, and allowed users to register planted trees or to plant trees by donating to different tree-planting organizations around the world. The foundation does not take any commissions for donations made through the campaign.
One Trillion Tree Initiative
In 2015 there were about 3 trillion trees and later it was also estimated that planting 1.2 trillion more trees would counteract 10 years of anthropogenic CO2 emissions. The 2020 World Economic Forum, held in Davos, announced the creation of the One Trillion Tree Initiative platform for governments, businesses, and civil society to provide support to the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, led by UNEP and FAO. Forum participant Donald Trump, president of the United States, announced that the government of the U.S. would commit to the initiative. , 13.6 billion trees have been planted.
Inspiration
The Billion Tree Campaign was inspired by Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Wangari Maathai, founder of the Green Belt Movement. When an executive in the United States told Professor Maathai their corporation was planning to plant a million trees, her response was: "That’s great, but what we really need is to plant a billion trees." The campaign was carried out under the patronage of Prince Albert II of Monaco. "It's the little things citizens do. That's what will make the difference. My little thing is planting trees." – Wangari Maathai
Restoration must be socially and ecologically responsible.
Response
Under UNEP’s leadership and through proactive advocacy by patrons and the partners, the Billion Tree Campaign has catalysed tree planting action on all continents. The billionth tree, an African Olive, was planted in Ethiopia in November 2007. The 2-billionth tree took root as part of the United Nation’s World Food Programme agroforestry initiative. The campaign’s target was then raised to seven billion trees. In 2009, UNEP mobilized action across the globe through the Twitter for Trees campaign. UNEP pledged to plant one tree to feed into the Billion Tree Campaign, for every follower who joined from 5 May 2009 to World Environment Day on 5 June 2009. The campaign was a success, with 10,300 people following the page by World Environment Day weekend. The World Organization of the Scout Movement also planted trees under the campaign, in line with its mandate to study and protect nature across several countries. United Nations Peacekeeping missions also joined the campaign and planted trees with its field missions in East Timor, Ivory Coast, Darfur, Lebanon, Haiti, Congo, and Liberia, among other missions.
As of November 2019, 13 years since the campaign’s launch, the website registered over 13.6 billion trees planted across 193 countries.
Quote from UNEP
"Looking back over the Billion Tree Campaign’s greatest successes, what is most remarkable is not its scale, but its spread. People from all around the world have enthusiastically joined the campaign and planted trees in their own communities." – Achim Steiner, UNEP Executive Director.
