Nairobi,
- The Billion Tree Campaign has passed the
three billion planted tree mark following
a confirmation from the Government of Turkey
that it planted over 300 million trees in
2008.
According to the Turkish
Ambassador to Kenya, H.E. Mr. S. Levent
Sahinkaya, "A total of 305,362,000
trees were planted by the Turkish Government
and the Turkish civil society in the year
2008. We believe that investing in our environment
is investing in our future, and we consider
the planting of over 300 million trees as
a marvelous gift to our children and to
the generations to come. The Turkish government
will continue investing in the environment
and is committed to the creation of an environment-friendly
economy."
Turkey has had an impressive
tree planting record since the launch of
the campaign, planting over 400 million
trees in 2007. With slightly over 700 million
trees planted to date, Turkey now attains
second position in the list of top ten countries
in the campaign's roll of honour. The leading
country remains Ethiopia with 725 million
trees planted.
Meanwhile the PRAIS
Foundation, an organization in Romania,
in partnership with the Romanian Ministry
of Environment and the National Environmental
Guard and other partners, have confirmed
that they have planted over eleven million
trees through the national tree planting
movement 'Millions of People, Millions of
Trees'.
"The PRAIS Foundation
is very proud that the movement is formally
recognized by UNEP, and has become part
of the Plant for Planet global initiative",
said Silvia Bucur, the President of the
PRAIS Foundation.
Roll of Honour: Top
countries
1. Ethiopia - 725,945,094
2. Turkey - 707,540,533
3. Mexico - 472,404,266
4. Kenya - 139,893,668
5. Cuba - 137,476,771
6. Indonesia - 100,335,946
7. India - 84,027,466
8. People's Republic of China - 53,950,418
9. Rwanda - 50,051,007
10. Republic of Korea - 46,723,157
11. Peru - 46,555,894
In total, 3,071,704,993
trees have been planted around the world.
So far, another 1,578,796,459 trees have
been pledged and have yet to be planted.
The Billion Tree Campaign,
spearheaded by UNEP, was unveiled in 2006
as one response to the threat but also the
opportunities of global warming, as well
as to the wider sustainability challenges
from water supplies to biodiversity loss.
The campaign, which
is under the patronage of Nobel Peace Prize
Laureate and Kenyan Green Belt Movement
founder Professor Wangari Maathai and His
Serene Highness Prince Albert II of Monaco,
has set a new ambitious target of seven
billion trees to be planted by the climate
change conference that will be held in Copenhagen,
Denmark in December 2009.
In a call to action,
UNEP is making an appeal to UN Peacekeeping
missions and the armed forces of the world
to also join in the campaign by planting
trees in areas where they operate. UNEP
is further inviting all people, communities,
business and industry, civil society organizations
and governments to join this global tree
planting initiative by registering tree
planting commitments on the campaign's website
www.unep.org/billiontreecampaign
+ More
Barack Obama launches
climate forum to help seal the deal in Copenhagen
Washington – US President
Barack Obama has invited 16 major economies
to take part in a forum on climate change
in a bid to speed up work towards an international
climate change agreement.
The Major Economies
Forum on Energy and Climate will bring together
key countries to speed up the negotiations
and seal the deal on climate change at the
key UN talks in Copenhagen on 7-18 December.
Preparatory talks will
kick off on 27 and 28 April in Washington
D.C., followed by a summit of the 17 leaders
in July in Italy, in the margins of the
G8 summit.
The 17 major economies
in the forum are Australia, Brazil, Canada,
China, the European Union, France, Germany,
India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico,
Russia, South Africa, South Korea, the United
Kingdom and the United States.
President Obama has
made the fight against climate change a
key priority of his Administration since
he took office in January.
The announcement of
the Major Economies Forum came as the latest
round of UN climate change talks kicked
off in Bonn, with 190 nations meeting to
work on an international pact to be agreed
in Copenhagen.
US Climate Envoy Todd
Stern told delegates at the Bonn meeting
that the US is "very glad to be back"
in the negotiations – in a reference to
the Bush Administration, which never ratified
the Kyoto Treaty.
"We want to make
up for lost time, and we are seized with
the urgency of the task before us,"
Stern said to loud applause from the 2,600
delegates.
