Life Terra has been busy hosting tree-planting events across Europe

Life Terra is a foundation with a mission to enable ordinary people to take impactful climate action now. They facilitate tree planting, educate future generations, develop tree monitoring technology, and they have been really active this year already with planting events all over Europe.

2022 has been a busy year for planting events in Europe with Life terra

Life Terra is founded on the knowledge that tree planting is regarded as the most cost-effective nature-based solution to capture carbon. As part of a multi-faceted mitigation strategy, planting trees can play an important role in the fight against climate change and the devastation it causes (heat waves, drought, forest loss, desertification, erosion, flooding).

Life Terra seeks to bring people together to plant 500 million in Europe, harnessing and monitoring nature’s own carbon capture mechanism and enabling citizens to take urgent action against the climate crisis. 

In just the month of December last year, there were planting events in la Ronquières (Belgium), Ròtova (Valencia), Ventalló (Catalonia), Gata de Gorgos (Alicante), and the Creadoras de Bosques initiative, in collaboration with Life Terra and other partners, planted trees at several sites in Spain, including 110 trees in Pineda and 90 trees in the Catalan Pyrenees. 

Today we present some examples of their activities since the beginning of this year, 2022. You can find more and follow on the Life Terra Blog.

14 January: Planting event with IES Francisca de Pedraza, Spain.

Friday, 14 January, we spent an incredible day planting trees in the playground of the new Francisca de Pedraza secondary school in Alcalá de Henares, 25km northeast of Madrid.

Approximately 300 students from years 1st, 2nd and 3rd of ESO have planted 130 trees and shrubs around the perimeter of the school. The aim of the planting was to provide a green barrier of shrubs and trees to provide shade and reduce the visual impact of the walls in the area of the schoolyard, which previously had no vegetation at all. Species include strawberry trees, junipers, laurels, cypresses, white mulberry trees and a holm oak.

We are grateful for the support provided by the Terra Leaders of "1 Million Trees for Climate Change". And thanks for the commitment of the IES Francisca de Pedraza.

25 January: Regenerative practices in Montado Freixo do Meio, Portugal.

Montado Freixo do Meio is a farm located in the region of Alentejo (Portugal). In the 1990’s Freixo do Meio was truly paving the path for organic, agro-ecological farming and currently it is managed as a cooperative where they carry out a wide range of regenerative practices.

Life Terra planted trees back in 2020 and Spring 2021. Now, during this planting season, we are also collaborating with them in order to reforest their Novo-Montado plot with 29,000 trees.

Due to the characteristics of the area, the aim of this tree planting is to create a green barrier of evergreen species that will help to reduce the wind impact and to improve the ecological characteristics of the area. The vision for the place is a mixed-stratified-Montado, installed with a rather high density. 

26 January: Reforesting with a local family farm near Grândola, Portugal.

Life Terra team continues collaborating with a family farm near Grândola (Alentejo) where they grow mainly olive trees and cork oaks.

Few hectares were dedicated to crops but as the family is not living there permanently part of the land was abandoned. Now the family wants to reforest some of the abandoned crop plots.

More than 11ha divided into different plots are being planted with a total of 2,090 trees from 14 different species in order to increase the local biodiversity.

1 February: First demo week in the Netherlands!

Last week we organised 6 events and a Terra Leader training at the privately owned estate Eyckenstein, near Utrecht in the Netherlands. The owner is turning the former cropland into a forest of 15,000 trees with over 10 different species.

Together with 5 different companies and a few families, we took care of the planting of 3.000 fruit trees. In the first couple of years, the fruit trees will have a protector to shield them from hungry rabbits and to optimise surviving rate.

A big thank you to everyone who helped to plant!

3 February: Landscouting in Burgos and Pradoluengo, Spain.

In this planting season, we are not only planting but also looking for new landowners that want to have more trees in their land!

The Volterra team visited a few municipalities in Burgos and we are really excited to announce that Villagonzalo Pedernales will start planting with us in a couple of weeks 8,000 new trees and shrubs of a great diversity of species.

Vilagonzalo Pedernales is part of the platform “Corredor Biológico Mundial” that is working towards creating a green corridor to decrease land fragmentation and contribute to the dispersion of species. An event will be held this spring to involve the citizens of the town to create these green areas around their town.

We will also be collaborating with Pradoluengo, which claims to be one of the towns that have been celebrating for longer the day of the tree! On the 3rd of May in this small village near the “Sierra de la Demanda”, the day of the tree is celebrated together with the youngest of the village. In this case, Life Terra will provide the trees and celebrate this tradition with them!

Looking forward to it!

What to expect in a Life Terra planting event?

It’s not only about planting trees! At a Life Terra event, we want you to learn about trees and the environment while enjoying a day in nature with your family and friends. You will learn about the project, what species we plant and why, and specific characteristics of the planting area. 

Most of the time, events are divided into two parts: planting and tagging. 

We have developed a tree geotagging platform for tree monitoring. With this web app, we want to increase the transparency of our project, but also provide valuable data for other ecosystem restoration initiatives while creating a unique link between the trees and the tree planters. 

• Planting: you don’t need to know how to plant a tree! We will teach you how to do it and provide you with the tools. 
• Tagging: after planting your tree, you can geotag it using our Life Terra webapp. It is really easy! We will give you a link to the platform and you will only have to follow the tagging instructions. Once tagged, your tree can be seen at any time in your personal Dashboard. 
• The trees: we will provide you with 1 to 2-year-old seedlings. We plant the trees in their early stages so they can adapt to the soil easier and take roots faster. 

At a Life Terra event, you will plant a diverse mix of tree species to ensure biodiversity. We work hand-in-hand with the landowner, the nursery and local authorities to choose the right species for the area. Ready to learn? You can start now! How to plant a tree.

Source: LifeTerra