OTTAWA –
The federal government is two years and only 29 million trees into its campaign pledge to plant two billion trees by 2030, short of the target it set last year.
During the 2019 campaign, the Liberals pledged to plant two billion trees this decade, but so far they are nearly 1.5 per cent short of the ultimate goal, something they attribute to the years it takes to grow seedlings that then can be planted.
However, Natural Resources Canada says the government is on track, and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau praised the project at a tree-planting event in Sudbury on Thursday.
Trudeau was joined by Environment and Climate Change Minister Stephen Guilbeau and anthropologist and primatologist Jane Goodall to celebrate efforts to re-green the area and plant the city’s 10 millionth tree.
The prime minister called projects like the one in Sudbury “an integral part” of how the government can achieve its tree-planting target.
Spread over the 10-year commitment, the government would need to plant an additional 200 million trees per year beyond current figures. That’s nearly 548,000 trees per day, but tree planting is a seasonal effort and cannot be done year-round, instead taking place during four to five months of the year.
Natural Resources Canada set out to plant 30 million seedlings in the ground last year in partnership with peer-reviewed organizations and projects.
Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson called the 2021 planting season “successful” in a statement released last month.
“We have reached 97 percent of our planting goal and are on track to plant two billion trees over 10 years,” he wrote.
Wilkinson said the government now plans to sign longer-term partnerships so it can increase planting to between 250 and 350 trees a year by 2026. Lower planting targets over the next few years are meant to account for the time it takes to grow seedlings sufficient for planting.
“The program works to build a strong foundation by focusing on long-term agreements with tree planting organizations that will in turn fuel a steady demand for nurseries,” Keen Nembhardt, a spokesman for the secretary of natural resources, wrote in an email to CTVNews. ca on Thursday.
“As contribution agreements are signed and purchase orders are placed, nurseries will be able to invest in infrastructure and seedling production,” he added.
The aim of the two billion tree target, according to the government, is to boost both climate change efforts and the economy by creating thousands of jobs while reaping the benefits of another two billion trees in the environment.
A Parliamentary Budget Office report from January said the plan to plant two billion trees by 2030 would cost almost double the Liberal budget.
Add Comment