An increasing catastrophe caused by humans is deforestation. An area nearly twice the size of Wales, or over 47,000 km2, of the forest is destroyed every year. In actuality, the Amazon rainforest has lost 17% of its area just in the last 50 years.
A description of deforestation. Afforestation, as opposed to reforestation, is the planting of trees in areas where there have never been any woods. In essence, it involves creating new forests where none previously existed or may have done so for many millennia.
This has numerous advantages, including boosting biodiversity, generating jobs, and removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. The three main methods for doing this are agroforestry, silviculture, and natural regeneration.
Some countries, such as China, and global initiatives, such as the Great Green Wall, are using afforestation to improve the lives of their citizens and prevent their land from becoming desert. The Vikings cut down trees in Iceland many years ago.
To strengthen the health of its ecosystems, Iceland is now looking into how to include afforestation programs in land management.
Table of Contents
Top 25 Examples of Afforestation Projects Globally
1. The World Economic Forum’s Trillion Trees Initiative
One of the biggest reforestation programs currently in action is the Trillion Trees Initiative. Governments, corporations, members of civic society, and ecopreneurs have joined forces to build a common platform for the forestry community. It unites and supports a wide range of organizations doing their part to restore our planet by planting trees.
Through this platform, everyone in the area who is interested in planting trees can collaborate with others working toward the same or related objectives, including the Global Partnership on Forest and Landscape Restoration, the UN Decade of Ecosystem Restoration, and the Bonn Challenge (see below).
2. The Bonn Challenge – Global Effort To Restore 350 Hectares of Forest by 2030
Another significant tree-planting program is the Bonn Challenge, which aims to restore 350 million hectares of forest by 2030. This project was started by the IUCN and the German government. The 2014 UN Climate Summit, it was later supported and expanded by the New York Declaration on Forests.
There have been 172.35 million hectares pledged thus far. Under the Bonn Challenge, numerous nations made lofty commitments, and many of them have already made notable strides toward fulfilling those promises. To find out more about the promises made and the inspiring success stories of tree planting that resulted from them, click the link below.
3. Ethiopia’s Green Legacy Initiative – 350 million Trees in Just One Day
The Bonn Challenge and other similar efforts have helped many nations achieve great things, and Ethiopia’s Green Legacy Initiative appears to be a significant addition. Launched last May, this program is an attempt to tackle climate change and environmental deterioration.
Although we are unable to confirm the precise quantity of trees planted (by an estimated 23 million participants), it is evident that numerous trees were planted. The previous world record for the most trees planted in a single day was likely surpassed by this campaign in Uttar Pradesh, India, in 2016, when more than 800,000 people planted 50 million trees.
Even though it is unclear exactly how many trees were planted, it is obvious that Ethiopia is making remarkable progress in forestry. The government of Ethiopia set a goal to plant 4 billion trees by the end of last year.
4. Ecosia – Planting Trees One Web Search at a Time
Since its 2009 founding, the web search engine Ecosia has planted approximately 86 million trees. Ecosia uses the money generated by the 15 million active users of its search engine to plant trees. They have a number of effective restoration initiatives underway all around the world and hope to plant a billion native trees.
Working with local partners who keep an eye on trees planted in the ground, Ecosia supports over 20 tree-planting programs in 15 different countries. They concentrate on planting in places with high biodiversity and where people want them.
5. The Nature Conservancy – Planting One Billion Trees
The Nature Conservancy’s “Plant a Billion Trees” initiative is another large-scale effort to combat deforestation and slow climate change. For more amazing tree-planting initiatives supported by donations from this campaign in Africa, China, and the Americas, see this site.
6. The World Land Trust – Helping Reforest Our Planet
More than 2 million trees have been planted thanks to funding from the World Land Trust. Many people are contributing to the restoration of forests that have been lost to deforestation by planting trees with the World Land Trust.
The World Land Trust collaborates with a network of local conservation partners to safeguard important habitats and reforest lands that have been cleared for development. Take a look at, for instance, their efforts in the Atlantic Forest of Brazil.
7. One Tree Planted – Restoration Partner of the United States Forestry Service
Over 4 million trees have been planted by One Tree Planted in 18 nations and four worldwide areas. In North America, 1.2 million in Africa, 465,000 in Asia, and 423,000 in South America, they have planted more than 1.8 million trees.
They intend to plant more than 6 million additional trees in 2020. They now collaborate with other organizations and are a recognized United States Forest Service (USFS) partner in reforestation.
8. Sustainable Tree-Based Food Production Systems – World Agroforestry
Agroforestry and related techniques are promoted by World Agroforestry, a research and development hub. Governments, development organizations, local communities, and farmers can use the knowledge shared by ICRAF to harness the power of trees to make farming and livelihoods more environmentally, economically, and socially sustainable at all scales.
They run six regional programs throughout Sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, and Latin America from their headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya.
Additionally, World Agroforestry carries out research in over 30 other developing nations. Agroforestry knowledge educates and supports a wide range of agroforestry programs around the world, helping to increase tree cover and regreen degraded land.
9. Ecosystem Restoration Camps – the Movement To Restore the Earth
There are hundreds of members in this Dutch non-profit organization, Ecosystem Restoration Camps, representing more than 30 different nations. One million individuals coming together to rehabilitate degraded areas in 100 ecosystem restoration camps throughout the world by 2030 is their main objective.
Visit their website to observe the incredible tree planting taking place at the current camps. Additionally, you can discover more about the worldwide emergence of seedling camps.
10. International Tree Foundation – Tree Planting and Capacity Building
A philanthropic organization called the International Tree Foundation manages tree-planting initiatives in the UK and Africa. For the sake of the future of our world and human life, they support a variety of community-led programs that establish and encourage forests and trees. In 2019, they planted close to 500,000 trees.
Undoubtedly, there are a lot more amazing tree-planting initiatives. Many of them concentrate on a specific area. They have extremely defined goals, such as reforesting a country, recovering the Amazon, providing food, and increasing community resilience. Whether we’re talking about a single, modest plantation or millions of trees, millions of people around the world are having a significant impact.
11. Plant to Stop Poverty, Tanzania
The Plant to Stop Poverty project employs an integrated strategy to advise and assist poor communities in rural areas in using agroforestry to combat persistent poverty and the effects of climate change. While forests are restored and conserved through tree planting, this way of generating food and revenue ensures security. In past programs in several districts, we have planted more than 140.000 trees.
12. Sacred Seeds Garden, Colombia
This project entails establishing a botanical garden in the Orinoco River basin to preserve its traditional medicinal trees and plants. It is located on a 16-hectare block of land inside a natural reserve. The Missouri Botanical Gardens in the United States are working on the project.
13. La Pedregoza, Colombia
The Orinoco River basin in Colombia is the location of this initiative for reforestation and afforestation. The plantation is intended to support the nearby natural reserve, which is committed to the conservation of regional flora and fauna, economically over the long term. To do this, we farm using natural methods.
14. Daintree Life Revegetation, Australia
In the Daintree Rainforest, in tropical north Queensland, Australia—the oldest rainforest on earth—Daintree Life is planting plants in previously cleared areas.
By 2030, we hope to have planted 500,000 trees, creating rainforest instead of weedy clearings, to boost habitat and food sources for our iconic fauna, including Bennetts Tree-kangaroos, Southern Cassowaries, and a variety of other animals. We have planted almost 14,000 trees since November 2018.
15. Sowing Water, Brazil
The destruction and fragmentation of forests result in the loss of numerous ecological services, including water supply. We created the “Sowing Water” project in eight communities of the Cantareira Supply System to stop these activities.
The goals are to persuade rural producers to adopt sustainable land-use practices, to recompose the forest that has been eradicated, and to involve the community in project activities through environmental education.
16. One Tree Matters, Australia
In North Queensland, Australia’s Wet Tropics, we are developing forests. For the critically endangered Southern Cassowary and Mahogany Glider, in particular, we are establishing habitat connections and corridors. We can conserve these animals with your assistance.
The first 10 Miyawaki Forests in Australia were also built by Brettacorp Inc., and with your help, we hope to develop many more. On 40 acres, we have planted almost 80 000 natural trees since 2015.
17. Amazon Windshields, Bolivia
Since 2000, agricultural and cattle pastures have encroached on an area larger than Denmark in the Bolivian Amazon Rainforest. It is difficult to halt that, but we are making progress by consistently putting thick tree screens in between fields of crops.
These screens can stop erosion, restore the forest, wildlife, and humidity conditions, and they can also increase agricultural yields, social effects, and CO2 sequestration.
18. Recover the Mediterranean Diversity, Spain
This project aims to regenerate society and the environment while recovering the variety of the Mediterranean region. Using three ecotechnologies—priming, pelleting, and mycorrhizae—instead of planting and sowing. The project also seeks to revitalize the neighborhood holistically, foster resiliency, and provide volunteers and residents—especially the most vulnerable—with physical and mental health care.
19. Usambara Biodiversity Conservation, Tanzania
The main objective of this initiative is to protect the biodiversity of the rainforest in the Eastern Arc Mountains. Reversing the severe deforestation around Forest Nature Reserve, the urgent need for wood and building materials, the demand for environmental conservation education, and the alleviation of extreme poverty through agroforestry are additional important challenges that must be addressed.
20. Alvelal, Spain
An initiative backed by farmers who seek to use regenerative farming and reforestation within their farms’ natural zones to restore the landscape, and biodiversity, and prevent soil erosion. located in North Granada, Inland Almera, and Murcia in the extreme southeast region of the Iberian Peninsula.
21. Reforest the Mata Atlântica, Brazil
Restoring the green of the Mata Atlântica (Atlantic Forest)! One of the world’s most threatened and diversified biomes is the Atlantic Forest, which is located in southeast Brazil.
Copaiba restores the Atlantic forest through ecological restoration, native tree seedling production, public policy, and environmental education programs.
22. Agroforesterie et Boisement, France
The initiative reforests abandoned agricultural fields and converts them into agroforestry systems, which combine forestry and agriculture on the same piece of land.
Our agroforestry and reforestation efforts contribute to the transformation of the present unsustainable agricultural practices, with numerous advantages for the environment and local farmers: less use of pesticides and fertilizers, less erosiveness, more biodiversity, CO2 offset, and better health.
23. Bore, Kenya
If we are to have any chance of preventing total and irreversible climate breakdown, it is abundantly evident that we must preserve our fragile tropical forests.
This innovative project has been collaborating closely with average subsistence farmers in Kenya since 2007 in an effort to develop ways to support them in growing novel food and timber products that increase biodiversity and lessen the load on their imperiled and vitally essential tropical forest.
24. Reforest the Amazon Basin, Brazil
In the Amazon basin, the year 2021 set a new record for deforestation. The state of Rondonia is where most illegal Amazon logging occurs. CES Rioterra created this project alongside Tree-Nation because they are committed to reforesting these areas.
We planted more than 70,000 trees throughout the previous planting seasons, and we are still planting more than 30,000 trees today, helping to fight climate change, biodiversity loss, and other environmental harm.
25. Community Tree Planting, United Kingdom
Through this scheme, local governments in the UK can plant native trees in their neighborhood parks. The UK currently has one of the lowest percentages of trees in Europe, at just 13%.
This project will expand the number of trees in the UK, remove carbon from the atmosphere, and offer crucial habitats for regional animals. The restoration of local communities and wildlife will be aided by the provision of a crucial community link.
Conclusion
As others are making their marks on the planet by planting trees so, we should. We can draw inspiration from the above afforestation programs.
Recommendations
- 8 Forest Conservation Organizations Globally
. - 7 Disadvantages of Afforestation
. - 4 Examples of Carbon Sinks Found on Earth
. - Top 13 Effects of Deforestation on Humans
. - 10 Examples of Non-Renewable Resources
A passion-driven environmentalist by heart. Lead content writer at EnvironmentGo.
I strive to educate the public about the environment and its problems.
It has always been about nature, we ought to protect not destroy.