Greenfleet – Celebrating the International Year of Forests
Greenfleet – Celebrating the International Year of Forests
The United Nations declared 2011 as the International Year of Forests; the year to celebrate the vital roles forests play in supporting life on earth and, just as importantly, the vital roles that people play in managing healthy forests |
| 18 Mar 2011 |
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| Battery Creek in 2010 (6 years after the 2004 planting). |
| Forests are truly essential to the survival and well-being of every living thing on earth: they provide shelter to people and habitat to wildlife; support biodiversity; are a source of food, medicine and clean water; and play a vital role in maintaining a stable global climate and environment by taking carbon out of the atmosphere. Since 1997 Greenfleet has planted almost 7 million native trees in Australia which form more than 250 biodiverse forests. Today, the resulting forests are helping to restore habitat for wildlife and to recapture carbon pollution equivalent to more than 400,000 average cars for an entire year. Battery Creek in Victoria is one of Greenfleet’s revegetation sites. Every year since 1999, Greenfleet has been planting native trees to establish a healthy, biodiverse forest on the site. As can be seen from the ‘before’ and ‘after’ images above, where bare land once stood, today a forest of eucalypts, wattles and tea trees is thriving – to the point that Greenfleet foresters can no longer pass the 2-metre measuring tape around the trunks to measure some of the trees planted in 1999. The objectives of this revegetation project were to improve water quality in the catchment and enhance biodiversity values, in addition to recapturing greenhouse gas emissions. Today the benefits of this rich, biodiverse native forest are numerous; but the most rewarding one is to see the native wildlife, like Kangaroos, Echidnas and Rosellas – to name just a few – returning to the area. AE Smith has planted 18,100 native trees over the past six years to offset its fleet of commercial vehicles with Greenfleet, and some of these trees are in Battery Creek. To celebrate the International Year of Forests, Greenfleet aims to plant more native forests than ever before and has set a fundraising target of 2 million trees for 2011. If you would like to help Greenfleet plant more native forests, visit www.greenfleet.com.au – you can make a donation*, offset your carbon pollution, give a Greenfleet gift or simply tell someone else about Greenfleet. |
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| Battery Creek before the 2004 planting. |
Greenfleet is a leading not-for-profit organisation which works with individuals and organisations to help them prevent and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, then offset remaining emissions by planting native Australian forests. |
| *Greenfleet is a registered charity – donations above $2 are tax deductible. |
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