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Cuba to Plant 135 Million Trees

The UN Environment Program (UNEP) international tree planting campaign, “Plant for the Planet:Billion Tree Campaign”, aimed at recovering forests globally has begun garnering support. One nation that has embraced the concept is Cuba, which will plant 135 million trees this year to recover forests in the Caribbean country. National Forest Director Elias Linares Landa said that Cuba hopes to cover 12.6% of the total planned by all countries and the project will involve social organizations and children.

Linares explains, “Plant your tree is the name of the crusade which began this past June 21 and will end in mid December.”

“With this plan, we will compensate for some of the global deforestation that destroys three billion adult trees each year,” said Linares.

Linares said some 2.7 million hectares of land in Cuba was currently forested and that the country had its own forestry fund to develop and manage forests, wildlife and education programs.

The devastation of the forests begun in colonial times and continued under the Republic as more land was transformed for cultivation and cattle rearing. By the time of the Revolution in 1959, forests only covered 13.4% of the nation. The figure rose to 21.1% in 1997 and to 24.95%, with more than 2.7 million hectares of woodland in 2006.

Linares points out that such progress within four decades illustrates the government’s commitment to re-establishing the rich vegetation distinct to the island.

A comprehensive program of reforestation was established in 1959 and continues to be a priority.

“First of all,” Linares explained, “Our country is planting from 60-64,000 hectares of trees annually. Cuba, Uruguay, Chile and Costa Rica are among the few countries in Latin America seeing their forests expanding.”

El