CO2 Offset by Planting Trees

My Forest Armenia has partnered with The Paros Foundation for this environmental  project. Their main objective it to plant 400.000 trees per year, or about 160 hectares of new forest every year with a mission to help decrease carbon in the atmosphere, sustainably increase forest coverage and preserve biodiversity using numerous endemic species. My Forest Armenia is growing seedlings ready for planting in its nurseries. This project is a reforestation plan of 20 hectares (50 acres) in a degraded area within the Dilijan National Park in the Tavush region. The forest has become degraded in the last 25 years because of illegal logging but mainly because of cow grazing in the pastures nearby. Villagers let their animals enter protected areas of the park and the undergrowth cannot regenerate. The most important part of the project therefore is to put a fence to protect the national park area. We will plant various endemic tree species so as to maintain the rich biodiversity of the park, mainly oak, beech, pine, birch, etc. Density will be 2,000 trees per hectare (800 trees per acre).

Reducing CO2 in the atmosphere is crucial to reduce global warming, planting trees is the best way to achieve this. At 11.2%, Armenia needs desperately to increase its forest coverage (as a comparison, forest coverage in the US is 34%). One cannot stress enough how forests are vitally important for any country, as it lowers temperatures, increase humidity, stops desertification, preserves bio-diversity and so much more. Further, many regions of Armenia are still quite poor. Reforestation in remote regions of Armenia will provide local villagers with a steady income and alleviate poverty.

By planting 30,000 trees and restore 20 hectares of forest, this project will achieve three objectives: reduce CO2 in the atmosphere, restore a beautiful forest area in the Dilijan National Park and, because we are hiring local workers from rural areas to work on the project, we will increase employment and improve the economic conditions in some of the poorest regions of Armenia.