In July 2010, the Campaign was proud to welcome participants from seven additional countries: Andorra, Estonia, Equatorial Guinea, Lesotho, Libya, Tajikistan, and Tuvalu. This brought the total number of countries represented in the Billion Tree Campaign to 185.

In Africa, the Kiangure Springs Environment Initiative launched a tree planting project dubbed Tetu schools afforestation programme. The programme aims to replace lost tree cover in schools in the Tetu District in Central Kenya. In addition to tree planting, other activities such as mural painting and essay writing competitions were organized to raise awareness on environmental issues. By July 2010, 15,000 trees had been planted in 9 participating schools.

The African Blackwood Conservation Project in Tanzania registered over 3 million trees planted in a large-scale replanting effort aimed at conserving the African Blackwood tree – a tree threatened with extinction due to the over-exploitation of the wood.

From Estonia, the forest department officially joined the campaign by registering 39 million trees. Every year, about 13 million seedlings (spruce, pine and birch) are planted by the department. “Touch of Green”, a tree planting company owned by young entrepreneurs from Estonia also joined up. The idea behind Touch of Green is to provide a way to neutralize an individual’s carbon footprint through tree planting. Certificates and the exact coordinates of the planted trees are given to participants.

A private individual, Mr. Piero Morseletto created a website (www.gift-a-tree.net) to mobilize tree planting throughout various Italian cities and towns. The site also provides information on the Billion Tree Campaign to further popularize the campaign in Italy.

In France, For Your Earth, launched a new brand of ‘eco-shoes’ made from recycled materials and will plant one tree for every pair that is bought. So far, over 15,000 mangrove trees have been planted in Banda Aceh, Indonesia in partnership with Planète Urgence – an early Billion Tree Campaign partner.

For the third consecutive year, Bankinter staff members planted trees to offset the bank’s carbon dioxide emissions for the year 2009. Over 15,000 trees have taken root in ‘Forest Bankinter’ since 2007. The trees are also part of a green barrier built to stop the advancing desertification in the south of Spain. Still in Spain, a non governmental organization, Plantemos para el Planeta continues to catalyze tree planting action from individuals, local governments and private sector companies across the country.

From Asia, the Kerala Social Forestry wing of the State’s Forest Department launched a massive afforestation programme in 2007 with the objective of mitigating the impacts of global warming. Over 17 million trees have been planted, generating widespread enthusiasm, interest, awareness and commitment to tree planting amongst the people of Kerala.

In Malaysia, the Standard Chartered Bank launched ‘Treeville’ a Facebook application that gives participants the opportunity to plant virtual trees. This initiative was launched in conjunction with GreenFingers, the bank’s eco-project that carries out the bank’s physical tree-planting exercise. The bank aims to plant over 11,000 trees across Malaysia.

From the same region, Intel Malaysia, through its environmental community programme ‘Plant for Our Future’ programme distributed 4,000 mangrove tree saplings and 4,000 fruit trees to its employees. The mangrove tree saplings were planted along coastal lines in Penang with the support of a local environmental NGO, while the fruit trees were planted by the company’s employees, who have committed to secure the trees’ survival.

Ballina Coastcare community confirmed that they have planted 900 native trees during the month of July to help restore degraded habitats and increase biodiversity along the Australian coastline.

Lastly, in Latin America, the Province of San Luis in Argentina launched an environmental awareness campaign aimed at generating a cultural exchange on the links between society and nature. Tree planting was one of the main activities. Each year, school children are called upon to collect native tree seeds from forests, which are then taken to tree nurseries. In 2009, 660 kg of seeds, the equivalent of 15 million trees, was collected. To date, the Province of San Luis has registered 3.2 million native trees under the Billion Tree Campaign.

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