world news - 25.05.2007
U.N. wins pledges to plant a billion trees
Launched in November by Nobel laureate Wangari Maathai
of Kenya at a major U.N. climate meeting in Kenya, the "Billion Tree"
campaign aims to roll back deforestation that is a top contributor to
carbon emissions blamed for global warming.
"People talk too much. We are no longer talking, we are working," Maathai told a news conference in her native Kenya. "The challenge now is to tell the world to go dig holes and plant seedlings. I've no doubt we will achieve our goal."
The United Nations says it checks all pledges are credible to make sure
they are carried out. Its Web site www.unep.org/billiontreecampaign/
said 1.01 billion trees had been pledged, but only 13.95 million
planted so far. The pledges have come from companies and countries as well as individuals. Maathai, 66, in 2004 became the first African woman and first "green" activist to win the Nobel Peace Prize.
The Nobel committee hailed the work of her Green Belt Movement -— which
planted about 30 million trees in Africa -— as a step to help end
poverty and avert conflicts over scarce natural resources. Some 13 million hectares (32 million acres) of forest are cut down every year, mostly in Africa and South America.
The boss of the U.N. Environment Programme, Achim Steiner, said the
speed the billion pledges came in was a remarkable demonstration of
people's willingness to act on climate change. "It is a billion
statements by people across this planet saying time has run out for
debating about whether to do something," Steiner told reporters.
Ethiopia on Tuesday said it planned to plant 60 million trees this year
at a cost of $8.1 million as part of its millennium celebration.
Ethiopia will celebrate its millennium on Sept. 11, owing to its
adherence to the Gregorian calendar.
Forest cover in the Horn of
Africa country stands at around 4 percent at the last estimate taken in
2000, down from 35 percent in the early 20th century. (Additional
reporting by Tsegaye Tadesse in Addis Ababa).
See also:
- — World Must Seek Change in China Timber Trade — Report
- — More storm felled timber than previously expected still remains in Swedish forests
- — Shenyang furniture industry begins large scale imports of US hardwoods
- — China needs "responsible" timber choice--Greenpeace
- — The forest-based sector is expected to become the lead market in Europe
