Planting 1 billion trees in 3 years: how to join yourself, as a company, or even online

Antonina Semenyuk

How many times have we heard or read that the forest is the lungs of the planet? Probably a hundred, if not more. A little less often, however, we tried to understand why. It is known that during the day one hectare of forest absorbs 120-280 kilograms of carbon dioxide from the air, which without this hectare remains in the atmosphere and increases the greenhouse effect. The World Wide Fund for Nature notes that deforestation accounts for 10% of the total causes of global warming. In addition, deforestation means the loss of homes for a wide variety of plant and animal species. It's also important to remember that trees control the water cycle, and if there are only stumps left, it will rain much less often in that area. Interestingly, one tree emits so much water each day that the cooling effect is equivalent to that of two conventional air conditioners during the day. Another consequence of deforestation is landslides. In addition, they're subject to wind and water erosion, which leads to the disappearance of fertile land.

To find out whether there's a threat of large-scale deforestation in Ukraine and whether we should fear the irreparable damage that this phenomenon may cause, let's read the public report of the head of the State Agency of Forest Resources of Ukraine. About 4,200 cases of illegal logging were recorded last year. And although this figure is the lowest in all years since 2003, the volume of forest violations is extremely large: more than 54 thousand cubic meters of wood are destroyed. This means that about 6,750 medium trucks of our forest went in an unknown direction. But, unfortunately, the losses are much greater, as sanitary cutting has harvested more than eight million cubic meters of wood, which can be placed in one million trucks. In addition, last year the fires covered more than 74,000 hectares of forestry, which is close in size to Kyiv's area.

Disappointing statistics push the authorities, public organizations, and ordinary citizens to find solutions to revive forest plantations.

It should be noted that in April this year more than two million people from 138 countries planted more than 10 million trees as part of the Greening of the Planet environmental campaign initiated by the Greening of Ukraine Charitable Foundation with the support of the Ministry of Environment Protection, the State Forestry Agency and the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry. And in 2021, according to the Presidential Decree, the Green Country program was launched with a call to create forests together. Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke about this at the Ukraine 30.Ecology forum, emphasizing the ambitious goal of increasing the area of ​​forests by one million hectares in 10 years. To implement it, all people who want to join the environmental initiative are offered to plant one billion trees within three years. The count has already started on the project's website, where you can register for the program for free or join a charity initiative; the Tabletochki Foundation, which helps children with cancer will receive all funds raised. By the way, so far the participants have planted more than 58.5 million deciduous and coniferous trees.

To increase this figure, you should:

1. Visit the Green Country website
2. Select the Plant Yourself tab and fill in the questionnaire, namely the name, e-mail, phone number, area where you plan to plant a tree, the name of the forestry for planting, and the available date
3. Not worry, because the site promises that all the necessary tools and instructions will be provided by a forester
4. Or select the Charity tab, specify the name and area where foresters plant coniferous or deciduous trees (of your choice), the number of trees, which will determine the price (one tree costs 50 hryvnias), and e-mail.

• How to join the program for public organizations and teams of enterprising citizens

The Ecological Front public organization, whose priority is to combat illegal logging, mass deforestation, poaching, pollution of waterways, landfills in Western Ukraine, has chosen another way to join the environmental initiative.

"We learned about such mass tree plantings and immediately started looking for the phone numbers of forestry representatives, that is, we simply established interaction directly with their leadership," said Stanislav Matviiv, head of the Ecological Front.

As he noted, each forestry independently chooses dates for the initiative's implementation and offers participants different timeslots. That's why it's worth calling and finding out the details.

Stanislav Matviiv has prepared some tips for preparing for the environmental initiative and organizing the process:

1. Find the telephone numbers of forestry representatives on the relevant websites and call them.
2. Learn about the time and date possible for the project. By the way, the forest is planted in a certain climatic period, in spring and autumn.
3. Ask if the foresters will provide the team with the required number of tools. If there are many participants, and the forestry can't allocate individual equipment to each, it's worth preparing your own set (for mountainous terrain, pickaxes or, if the soil is soft, hoes; for lowland, ordinary shovels or elongated bayonet shovels; mittens for hand protection).
4. Gather people who will be ready to work a few hours.

Still, the experience of activists didn't do without a sting:

"We spent the most time planting trees in the Carpathian region. The main transport arteries there are more or less decent, but when you drive a little deeper, you realize how bad roads are. Therefore, you should take either specialized off-road vehicles or cars, the parts of which you won't grieve to lose on the road," said Stanislav Matviiv.

The public organization managed to gather about 60 people willing to plant Slobidka, Vyhoda, Osmoloda, Broshniv, and Brody forestry. It should be noted that the Ecological Front also joined the initiative of citizens who decided to take part in the afforestation project and were the first to establish communication with forestries. In total, the team planted eight hectares of forest land and planted about six thousand seedlings, including fir, spruce, beech, cedar, larch, ash, sycamore, and spruce. It turns out that the seedlings are supplied by foresters because there are greenhouses in the forest area, where the relevant crops are grown. Later, foresters dig them up and transport them to the places where the landings take place.

The problem of deforestation is painful not only for Ukraine but for the entire world. In particular, the EU has planned to plant at least three billion new trees in forests, agricultural areas, and cities under the European Green Deal and the EU biodiversity strategy for 2030. Interestingly, the process is carried out according to long-term planning. This means that first meticulously select the appropriate place for the growth of seedlings in a changing climate, and only after all the research they are planted. In addition, the European Commission will work with the European Environment Agency to calculate and monitor the Map My Tree platform. All citizens, landowners, associations, companies, entire cities, and regions are encouraged to join the program.

Photo: World Economic Forum

An equally interesting project was launched by an organization founded by a young environmentalist from Germany Felix Finkbeiner. This is an application that Sagar Arial developed for Plant-for-the-Planet. Thanks to it, you can finance the planting of trees in different countries. For example, for almost 93 hryvnias, the user can support the project "The Heart of the World" and remotely plant a tree in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta in Colombia.

To join the Trillion Tree Campaign of this organization you need to visit the website and financially support one of the projects, the description of which you will find there, or:

1. Download the application from Google Play or the App Store.
2. Create your account in the application.
3. Select the "Donate" tab.
4. Choose a project in a specific world region.
5. Send funds for planting as many trees as you specified during the payment process (money goes directly to those who will plant trees).
6. If you want to plant a seedling in the city yourself, you can register it with a photo and geolocation, but don't forget about the consent of the local government.

In addition, the functionality of the application allows you to organize competitions between schools and companies. So, it is not only useful but also fun.

Of course, these are not all opportunities to join environmental initiatives and green our planet. But they and your desire to help are enough to move closer to a healthy future.