In the European Union, at least 3 billion additional trees must be planted in ten years' time. This is one of the measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55 % by the year 2030.
The European Commission has set out this in the new EU forestry strategy, which should contribute to the climate goals of the European Green Deal to be a climate neutral Europe in thirty years.
Forests are an important part of the solution to combat climate change and the loss of biodiversity. Planting an additional 3 billion trees throughout the EU by 2030 will increase forest size and mitigate climate change.
The European Union currently has 160 million hectares of forest. That's 5 percent of what's in the world. Nearly half of the EU, 43 percent, is covered in forest. Two thirds of all forests are in just six countries: Switzerland, Finland, Spain, France, Germany and Poland.
In three countries, 60 percent of the surface is covered by forest: Finland, Switzerland and Slovenia. In that respect, the Netherlands comes out with 11 percent.
In the EU, it is estimated that nearly 300 million trees have grown annually between 2010 and 2015. The goal is to double these numbers to 600 million trees planted per year. This means that by 2030 there would be three billion extra trees compared to the 'business as usual' scenario.
The European Commission will facilitate, motivate and monitor the planting process. Together with the European Environment Agency, Brussels will launch the citizen project 'Map-My-Tree' to enable the public to follow the plantations.
Plant and grow the right tree, in the right place, and for the right purpose. In practice, this means planting the right mix of tree species, not only in forests, but also in agro-forestry, agricultural and urban areas. Trees may not be planted in high nature value gebieden such as swamps, peat bogs, wetlands, peat bogsieden and grasslands.