Calling it an opportunity for “people of all walks of life to participate in re-greening our planet,” Jane Goodall has launched a new tree-planting campaign called Trees for Jane. The famed conservationist and primatologist has organized the new initiative in support of the United Nations’ Decade of Ecosystem Restoration and its goal to plant 1 trillion new trees by 2030.
“Where once our planet was home to six trillion trees, only three trillion remain,” Goodall writes in an op-ed for Time. “And half of that loss has occurred in only the past 100 years—barely a blink of an eye considering the millions of years it took to create Earth’s biodiverse landscapes.”
Through Trees for Jane, participants can either donate to support global on-the-ground replanting projects, preservation of existing forests and their indigenous guardians, or even register trees they’ve planted locally.
While Goodall points out that tree-planting campaigns are not new solutions, they are nonetheless tried and true ones. “We want to inspire everyone worldwide to combat our climate crisis by adding new funding and momentum to ongoing efforts to stop deforestation and restore lost forests,” she writes. “We also want to encourage people to plant and nurture their own trees to help our cause and better value the fragility of nature.”
A Growing Problem
Goodall’s call to action comes on the heels of a landmark global report that warns one in three trees are facing extinction. Published by the Botanic Gardens Conservation International, the inaugural “State of the World’s Trees” report says that 30% of the world’s nearly 60,000 tree species are at risk of being lost forever, with habitat loss from agriculture and grazing and over-exploitation from logging and harvesting the greatest threats.
"This assessment makes clear that the world's trees are in danger," Gerard T. Donnelly, Ph.D., president and CEO of The Morton Arboretum, one of 60 institutions that participated in the five-year study, said in a release. "As keystone species in forest ecosystems, trees support many other plants and living things that are also vanishing from the planet. Saving a tree species means saving much more than the trees themselves.”
According to the report, the countries facing the greatest levels of tree extinction include Brazil (20%), China (19%), Indonesia (23%), and Malaysia (24%). In the U.S., presently one in 10 species is at risk.
As Goodall explains, despite efforts to curb losses, global deforestation continues to occur at a rate of an acre and a half every second. “Short-term profit continues to be prioritized over the near- and long-term health of our planet. If this madness continues at the current rate, by the end of this century, the modest green landscape that can be seen today from outer space will be a thing of the past,” she writes.
To contribute to Trees for Jane and/or find out what you can do in your own backyard to help combat tree loss, jump here to read more from the campaign.
Repost: treehugger.com
