2 June 2009: The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) announced that its Billion Tree Campaign has passed the four billion mark, a crucial step towards its target of seven billion trees planted by the end of 2009.

The milestone was reached following confirmation from the Ethiopian Ministry of Agriculture that an additional 687 million trees were planted in 2008 under the country’s nationwide tree planting campaign.
Recent tree planting registrations were made in Turkey, Peru, China and Kenya. To date, tree plantings have taken place in 166 countries. In a call to further global action, UNEP is inviting everyone from civil society to the business community to governments to plant trees as part of the UNite to Combat Climate Change initiative, and to register their commitments to plant on the campaign’s website. [UNEP Press Release] [Billion Tree Campaign]