National Tree Day 2019 is almost here

Co-founded in 1996 by Olivia Newton-John and Planet Ark, National Tree Day has grown into Australia’s largest community tree-planting event.

And it’s back for 2019, with opportunities for everyone to get involved, including a day especially for schools on Friday 26 July in addition to the official event date of Sunday 28 July. If you want to do your bit to help your community and the environment, you can donate seedlings, join a planting or host your own event.

Trees are a major front in the fight against climate change and its effects, due to their unparalleled capacity to absorb and store carbon. Sustainable forest management is also a key part of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, specifically Goal 15: Life on Land. Australia has committed to the SDGs including taking actions such as leading the 20 Million Trees Program, which sees the Australian Government working with the community to plant 20 million trees by 2020 in order to establish green corridors and urban forests.

Research recently published by Science has stated that, excluding cities and agricultural areas, there are nine million square-kilometres on Earth to spare for reforestation. Planting new trees in such numbers could cut carbon in the atmosphere by nearly 25%, levels not seen since 1919. Experts are careful to point out that these effects would not be immediate because new forests would take time to mature. However, this means reforestation can’t start soon enough.

Significantly, Australia was named as one of six countries that hold over 50% of the world’s tree-planting potential with the tropical east coast of Australia containing the most suitable land for this endeavour.

Global Table’s programming is specifically aimed at putting the Sustainable Development Goals in the spotlight for the region’s food and agricultural sectors. That’s one reason why members of our team are getting our hands dirty on 28 July.

Last year, over 300,000 people in Australia volunteered their time to environmental activities – will you be one of them?

Find out more about the community planting events happening around Australia for National Tree Day and register your interest in participating.