UNEP's Billion Tree Campaign supported by ICRAF

The Qatar Foundation is one of the latest organisations to join the Plant for the Planet: Billion Tree Campaign and they have begun planting. Texas A&M University assistant researcher Ahmed Elgharib told Gulf Times that “Olive, miswak (toothbrush tree), acacia (samour), sidra, henna, cittron (ottruj), and senna (ashrej) are the species planted and almost all of them are native”.  The focus on native tree species is exactly what the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) recommends.

When planting vast numbers of trees, research from ICRAF shows that it is vital to select the right tree for each region. Selecting the right tree means better climate adaptation, soil fertility and increased livelihood. As a partner in the UNEP initiative, ICRAF advices that where possible, indigenous trees should be favoured when deciding on the type of tree to plant. The World Agroforestry Centre keeps a vast data base of many tree species and it is all too happy to offer advice to interested parties.

The Plant for the Planet: Billion Tree Campaign encourages individuals, communities, various organisations and private businesses to pledge to plant a tree. UNEP hopes that once pledges are made, parties concerned will plant those trees. Participants are encouraged to use a dedicated website to map their progress through comments, photos and videos. In order to give various regions time to plant trees at the right times, UNEP will run the Campaign for a whole year.

To read more on the Qatar Foundation story, click here.
To go to the UNEP Plant for the Planet: Billion Tree Campaign click here.