Planting nearly 3,000 large timber trees for watershed forest on international tree-planting day

Thanks to the support of over 1,100 individuals, teams, and enterprises, in March, Gaia Nature Reserve Center joins hands with youngsters and the locals to green over 30 ha of specialized watershed forests in Thanh Hoa province. In detail, 17,000 indigenous large timber in Xuan Lien Natural Reserve and nearly 13,000 others in Ben En forest in Thanh Hoa. The activity aims to strengthen capacity to tackle climate change, mitigate damages caused by floods and storms, create a safe living environment for wild and rare animals as well as improve the living quality of Thanh Hoa people in particular and Vietnamese in general.

As one of the sponsoring units, Mr. Binu Jacob, Director-general of Nestlé Vietnam said that the company cooperated with Gaia Nature Reserve Center and other partners to implement the “Give good things, welcome green fortune" program on the occasion of the 2022 Lunar New Year, raising funds to plant 8,000 trees in protective forests and 250,000 high-quality coffee trees.

"This is a significant meaningful activity as Vietnam is coping with a series of challenges on the environment such as domestic waste crisis, climate change, shrinking green area, increasing caducous area of coffee trees. As a business for the community, we cannot be the bystander of the race to restore the natural ecosystem before it is too late. Nestlé hopes that this contribution will partly soothe nature, contributing to minimizing the negative impacts of the environment on our lives," said Mr. Binu Jacob.

Ms. Do Thi Thanh Huyen, Founder, and Director of Gaia Nature Reserve Center stated that following Covid-19, we would be confronted with further significant worldwide concerns. Climate change is one of those. "Reforestation and ecosystem restoration are an effective option that the entire globe is presently promoting. Gaia is grateful to people, corporations, and government partners for their attention and assistance. For this specialized watershed forest planting effort, we feel that any contribution, large or small, is significant, together with us in bringing about change for a greener, more sustainable Vietnam!" Ms. Thanh Huyen stated.

According to Ms. Huyen, the woods will be monitored and cared for to guarantee that the quality and survival rate of trees is at least 70% to 80% after four years. Additionally, Gaia will collaborate with the Xuan Lien Nature Reserve and Ben En National Park Management Boards to conduct research, monitor the forest, and publish annual reports.

Following that, the forest will get long-term preservation through public money. Everyone can update information about the forest every year such as tree survival rate, tree size, forest growth status, tree monitoring photos, forest monitoring photos, species status of plants and animals in the forest...

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) launched "International Tree-planting Day March 21" in 2013, encouraging local governments and nations to collaborate to plant trees and promote awareness about forest conservation and sustainable development. March 21 is also "International Day of Forests," which encourages governments to launch afforestation efforts in light of the world's forests degrading in terms of quality and area.

Natural disasters such as floods, storms, droughts, and air pollution have grown increasingly severe in Vietnam as a result of the decline in forest quality, severely harming people's livelihoods from rural to urban regions.

This afforestation campaign responds to and implements the Government's program to plant 1 billion trees, contributing to Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh's commitment at COP 26 (United Nations Conference on Climate Change) in the United Kingdom in October 2021 to bring net emissions to "zero" by 2050 and to decrease methane emissions by 30% by 2030.