All about our tree plantings this season!
We are really grateful and proud of what we achieved this year :
- More than 50,635 trees planted all over Belgium thanks to the support of Luminus, Department Environment Flanders and private donations. Since 2005, we have planted or helped to plant more than 170,000 trees in Belgium in 38 Forest in One Day tree planting events.
- Our commitment to education and youth empowerment led us to conduct 219 workshops with 3,805 children across Belgium. We created 5 new board games on diverse environmental thematics to children of primary and secondary schools.
- We received more than 1000€ of donations for helping the chimps and supporting our work in Chimp Eden sanctuary and Dindefelo Reserve in Africa. To our actual Chimp Guardians who have supported the centra on a recurrent basis, we express our deepest gratitude for being part of this mission year after year.
A big thank you to everyone who took part in this year's tree planting with us. It's been a busy season, with 10 planting events since november 2024 and over 30,000 trees planted, well done!
The tree plantings took place in several locations: Ans (2x), Torhout (2x), Balen, Overijse, Vilvoorde, Wingene, Retie and Manhay. We are often acompanied with a lot of partners and volunteers such as Sylva Nova, Bosgroepen, SoWoods, Luminus, Ethias, Noshaq, WWF, municipalities as well as schools, local residents, youth groups and scouts.
We always give workshops in the locals schools to teach the children about the importance of trees and forests before they join us. They are always really excited to plant trees with us and at the end they receive a certificate of plantation which shows how many trees they have planted and their commitment to us, a wonderful souvenir of these days in the end! Many times a lot of families with young children, but also elderly people come with us. All generations are present and help each other hand in hand. That shows once again that there is no age limit on preserving and restoring nature.
These new forests not only improves the landscape, but it also has a positive effect on the environmental in multiple ways. Among other things, the new forest will store CO2, help filter water, prevent soil erosion, provide fresh air and host a large reservoir of biodiversity. In short, it will have a number of positive effects that no technology has yet been able to match. In Africa a tree has a greater impact than in Europe as trees there convert CO2 all year round and provide shade, shelter and food for people and animals. This is very important in the fight against climate change. For every tree we plant today, we plant a few more in Burundi, where we are making a huge difference. Not only for the CO2 absorption, shade and food they provide, but they also help protect against erosion and increase habitat for wildlife such as chimpanzees.
So while these forests was indeed planted in 1 day, it is important to remember that it takes a long time to grow a forest. If it is planted in 1 day, but maintained over many years, it will add value to a region and a community over several generations. Restoring nature so that we can live in harmony with it: it is a grand and ambitious programme that we must implement together!
