Why trees?
Our planet is in serious trouble. We are all responsible. Our ever-increasing demand for resources and living space, the destruction of nature and our associated emissions of greenhouse gases are disrupting the earth.
With Plant for Future, you not only plant trees, but also protect existing forests. Because with every tree you plant with us, we also commit to protecting existing forest areas in rainforests around the world from economic exploitation. Forests not only protect soils from erosion and drying out, they also keep the water cycle running, produce oxygen and, alongside the world’s oceans, are the most important carbon reservoirs we have.
The Amazon rainforest is also known as the green lung of the earth
In their function as carbon stores, trees are therefore an important means of counteracting climate change. However, trees are only effective if existing forests are protected and bare areas are reforested. We fulfil our first promise by buying up valuable primary rainforest with our partners in Peru, among other places, and preventing long-term economic exploitation through logging, gold prospectors, deforestation and the often associated conversion to monocultures. The Amazon rainforest has a very special role to play here. Often referred to as the “green lung of the earth”, it is precisely this largest remaining contiguous rainforest on earth that is threatened in its ecology by the aforementioned human influences. In this context, researchers speak of a tipping point that lies between 20-25% total loss. A value that we have already come dangerously close to. And the policies of Brazil, the largest Amazonian country, have also shown no sign of change since Bolzonaro took office. The opposite is the case and it is therefore up to us to draw attention to the part of the world with the greatest biodiversity, to boycott products that have been extracted from the Amazon rainforest and to protect further areas of this still mighty forest.
Our second promise is to “plant trees“. According to a highly regarded study conducted by ETH Zurich in 2019, there is an area of around 900 million hectares worldwide that could be reforested. According to the special report on global warming published by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in 2008, roughly the same area would be needed to limit global warming to a maximum of 1.5° Celsius by 2050. Our trees are planted in the subtropics of Africa, Central America and Southeast Asia by our local partner organisations in cooperation with small farmers. For this purpose, various local trees are grown in tree nurseries and then digitally recorded in order to be able to monitor the planting location and growth progress. To promote the growth of the trees in the first years of their life, weather-related irrigation and care is guaranteed.
Planting trees and preserving forests are the first important steps. However, if we want to preserve our earth as a diverse planet worth living on, we must be prepared to change the behaviours we already take for granted.
Find out more about what you can do.