Climate Change & Disappearing Glaciers

Peru Plants Half a Million Trees a Day to Combat Climate Change

Here’s some good news for the environment:

According to ANDINA and other news outlets, Peru’s Ministry of Agriculture has initiated an ambitious countrywide tree-planting campaign to counter the effects of climate change.

The project began in December with the goal of planting 40 million trees by February 20. That translates to half a million trees per day or more than 40 million trees in a little less than three months.

The trees will capture more than 570,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide annually, a representative for the Ministry of Agriculture estimates.

Notes El Comercio:

“A workforce of 130,000 people has been recruited, and each person will be planting about 4.5 trees per day. Eucalyptus, pine, cypress and pepper trees will be planted in 18 Peruvian regions with suitable soil and rainfall.”

This is wonderful news, not only for the environment, but for employment in Peru.

Perhaps developed nations in the world will be inspired to take a cue from low-income, low-carbon-footprint Peru, and create similar programs of their own.

The time to act is now.

I am an American writer who lived in Lima for seven years (2007-2014), where I covered Andean traditions, melting glaciers and daily life in the capital for Miami Herald, MSNBC and Huffington Post. I now live and work in northern Florida where I champion climate change advocacy and compassionate, affordable eldercare.

One Comment

  • Miguel

    This is such a nice thing to do. In Lima, there are also programs for tree planting; I am sure they will keep expanding the program.