We all know that trees are great for the environment, but did you know that trees are also good for the social well-being of communities, so much so that they can help to stabilize entire economies? Earth Day Network knows it, and that’s why the world-wide environmental advocacy group made a commitment with Global Poverty Project to plant 10 million trees over the next 5 years in impoverished parts of the world. The Canopy Project has planted 1.2 million trees in 18 countries and most recently finished planting 350,000 trees in three high-poverty districts in Uganda.

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“Trees reverse the impacts of land degradation and provide food, energy and income, helping communities to achieve long-term economic and environmental sustainability. Trees also filter the air and help stave off the effects of climate change,” according to the Earth Day Network’s website. Because trees are such solution-multipliers, The Canopy Project has targeted places that need it most, like Uganda.

Earth Day Network, in partnership with Trees for the Future, just planted 350,000 trees in the impoverished areas of Kiboga-Kyankwanzi, Kayunga and Kamuli as part of The Canopy Project. In the Kiboga-Kyankwanzi district, farmers planted trees for fuel wood, animal fodder, construction materials and intercropping. In Kayunga, families planted trees for timber, to prevent soil erosion and mitigate the effects of storms, and to create living fences to protect their land from being seized by corrupt farmers. And in the Kamuli district, farmers planted trees to create boundaries on their land and to provide fodder for cattle, which they are keeping to produce raw materials for a biogas project in the district.

Over the past 3 years, The Canopy Project has planted over 1.2 million trees in 18 countries. The tree plantings are supported by sponsors and individual donations and they are carried out in partnership with nonprofit tree planting organizations throughout the world. Earth Day Network works in partnership with the United Nations Environment Programme’s Billion Tree Campaign and each tree planted counts toward A Billion Acts of Green.

+ Earth Day Network

Via Treehugger

Images via Wikimedia Commons User Elitre and Wikimedia Commons User treesftf