Raleigh International Launches the Tree Planting Action Challenge

Today Raleigh International, in partnership with the Woodland Trust, launch our Tree Planting Action Challenge, a step-by-step programme that young people can take to support them to organise tree-planting events in their local community.

Through our Tree Planting Action Challenge, we will plant over 7,000 trees across the UK while raising awareness about the importance of tree-planting and the global need to improve tree cover.

We are now looking 75 Tree Planting Champions across the UK to join us and take the Tree Planting Action Challenge to improve tree cover across the United Kingdom and contribute to the global effort to tackle the climate crisis.

Why do we need to plant more trees?

The climate emergency is real and growing. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), global temperature must be kept under control to avoid increasing global temperature by more than 1.5°C. To do this, we must lower the release levels of greenhouse gases – like carbon – which contribute to global warming.

Trees are an effective and powerful tool in tackling global warming due to their ability to absorb carbon. However, up to 10 million hectares of trees are lost globally each year, causing the widespread release of greenhouse gases and contributing to climate change and the devasting effects of global warming, such as wildfires, rising city temperatures and flooding.

We need trees to tackle climate change. But scientists believe that without urgent action then the world’s rainforests will be gone in less than 100 years. In the UK specifically, between 2001-2020, almost half a million hectares of tree cover was lost, with woodland making up only 13% of the UK’s land cover – almost three times less than the average woodland cover of 37% across the EU.

Reversing deforestation is the number-one strategy for combatting the climate emergency. To do this, we must plant more trees.

Get involved

By signing up to the Action Not Excuses Tree Planting Action Challenge you will take action in the UK to plant trees and restore woodland, taking action in the fight against climate change.

The Tree Planting Action Challenge will guide you through every step you need to take to plant between 30 and 105 trees with your friends and communities wherever you are in the UK between the 1st November and 31st December.

Through the challenge, you will:

• be provided with free trees by our friends and partners at the Woodland Trust
• be supported to identify and build a community of planters to support you on planting day
• connect with a network of people taking action to plant trees across the UK
• be supported to fundraise so that you can support other young people taking action to fight the climate emergency

Get involved in organising a tree planting event later this year by signing up to Raleigh International’s Tree Planting Action Challenge by 31st September.