UN starts global tree planting campaign

The UN Environment Programme has launched an international campaign asking individuals and companies to plant at least one billion trees during 2007.

The "Plant for the Planet: Billion Tree Campaign" initiative was launched yesterday in Nairobi, Kenya, at the annual climate change conference. It urges tree planting as a way to absorb atmospheric carbon dioxide, an important greenhouse gas that causes global warming.

An average tree takes in about 12kg of carbon dioxide a year so a billion trees could pull 12 million tonnes of carbon out of the atmosphere. The campaign is open to individuals, children and youth groups, schools, companies, local authorities and governments.

It encourages the planting of indigenous trees suited to the local environment.

The UNEP has created a website www.unep.org/billiontreecampaign where people can register pledges from a single tree to 10 million trees.