Plant a Billion Trees
Our Forests are Disappearing.
We need your help to plant trees and restore forests around the globe.
America’s forests are facing a perfect storm of threats. Infestations of diseases and invasive pests like the Emerald Ash Borer are killing tens of thousands of acres of trees nationally. Increased development is splitting once-vast forests into small fragments, and a history of suppressing natural fires has created unhealthy stands of forests. Additionally, climate change is altering the size and growth patterns of forests.
Without these forests, 50 percent of the nation’s water supply will go unfiltered and 12 percent of U.S. carbon emissions won’t be absorbed. Iconic and important plant and animal species will lose their home, and more than $14.5 billion generated on Forest Service lands – money that goes back to local communities – will be lost.
How You Can Help
The Plant a Billion projects in the United States are rejuvenating iconic forests in key locations throughout the country. The Nature Conservancy is making sure each dollar donated can have the most effect on creating healthy forest habitat by using two methods: planting tree seedlings in areas that have been highly degraded, and assisting the natural regeneration of the forest by removing barriers to the forest’s ability to heal itself.
Brazil’s Atlantic Forest is one of the most biodiverse ecosystems in the world. It is also one of the most threatened. Due largely to ranching, agriculture and urban expansion, its forest cover has been severely degraded in recent decades, and today only 12 percent of this iconic forest remains.
Brazil’s Cerrado Forest is home to over 10,000 plant species and more than 1,300 vertebrates, 340 of which have only been discovered in the last decade. It also houses several headwaters of important river basins. This essential ecosystem is under immediate threat from expansion of the production of agricultural commodities, including soy bean, maize and cotton.
The Nature Conservancy is working to promote large scale restoration in these two crucial forests – essential not only to the survival of a vast array of plant and animal species, but also to the people of Brazil – providing carbon sequestration, storage and filtering of water, protection against floods and economic opportunities to local communities.
Without these important habitats, 130 million people in Brazil will be without clean water and hydro-energy, and all of us will lose a vital climate regulator for our planet. We need your help now to protect the Atlantic Forest and Cerrado before they degrade even further.
How You Can Help
You can help restore health and vitality to the Atlantic Forest and Cerrado by planting new trees and helping damaged areas to regrow naturally.
Never before has such a large-scale restoration effort been so within the world’s reach. Together we can restore these endangered habitats. Together we can plant roots for tomorrow.
Increased development and a growing demand for wood products is turning what used to be some of the most species-rich forests in the world to small, unsustainable groups of trees. The forests of China’s Yunnan and Sichuan provinces are home to the endangered Yunnan golden monkey and the iconic panda, and yet these species could disappear with the richness of their forests.
We cannot afford to lose the forests of the Yunnan and Sichuan provinces. We risk losing iconic species forever, clean water and productive farmland for millions of people, and a climate regulator for our planet.
One Gift. One Tree. One Planet.
Caring for degraded forests and improving the management of replanted forests are critical to the future of the golden monkey and the panda, as well as other species that share their range. By strategically selecting project sites near to protected areas in these regions, we can expand panda and golden monkey habitat, reconnect their forest home and allow separate groups of animals to rejoin each other.