Kisscafe

Hey everybody,
I just thought I'd take some time out of my day to address and discuss an awesome reforestation campaign which is taking place in South America right now.

Believe it or not, the campaign has been titled the "Plant a Billion Trees Campaign"

that's right, a billion.

The project aims to reforest Brazils once vast Atlantic forest which has now been 93% cleared. The project is being launched by The Nature Conservancy (TNC)  and is being supported through online fundraising [ http://www.plantabillion.org/ ] as well as "Brazil's federal government, the state governments of Parana and Sao Paulo, the Extrema municipality, forestry companies, local cooperatives, NGOs, and local communities" (planet green)

The Atlantic forest is the only forest on Earth that has been taken this close to complete destruction, TNC hopes that by 2015 the campaign will have restored 1 billion trees, over an area of 2.5 million acres of once native land. Over 2000 animal species and 458 tree species co-exist in the Atlantic forest, showing the immense diversity contained within.

Although deforestation began over 300 years ago, significant harm wasnt noted untill these past 100 years. Today, over 11 communities and 130 million people occupy the territory which the Atlantic forest once canopied and "about 80 percent of Brazil's gross domestic product is generated in the region. Forested areas are still being cleared for soybean and sugarcane production, non-native tree plantations, cattle ranching, illegal logging, and urban and coastal development." (planet green)

the final product will help future generations breathe cleaner, fresher air as the new forest will "remove thousands of tons of carbon every year." (planet green)

be sure to check out the site http://www.plantabillion.org/ and see what you can do to help.

http://planetgreen.discovery.com/work-connect/plant-billion-trees.html

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