This week, new planting projects were announced in Brampton, Fundy National Park and along the Trent-Severn Waterway as part of the two billion trees initiative
Tree planting projects are underway in communities across the country as the Government of Canada works to fulfill its commitment of planting two billion trees in 10 years.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau first announced the government’s intention to plant two billion trees in 10 years while on the campaign trail in September 2019. He said that if re-elected, the Liberal government would make the commitment to help achieve the goal of net-zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2050. The government claims the initiative will reduce GHG emissions by up to 12 megatonnes per year by 2050 along with creating 4,300 green jobs.
“Nature isn’t just a part of our identity as Canadians, it’s also a part of the solution to climate change, and it’s a solution we can start using today,” Trudeau said at a campaign event in Montreal on Sept. 27, 2019. “Trees are remarkable. They pull carbon out of the atmosphere. They’re renewable and they’re sustainable and, eventually, they even recycle themselves. All we have to do is plant the first one.”
The government announced a $3.16 billion investment in the project in December 2020 followed by the Growing Canada’s Forests (GCF) program in February 2021. The program aims to fund new tree planting projects while also contributing to the expansion of existing projects.
As part of the GCF program, the government will select partners to plant trees on public and private lands in remote, rural, suburban and urban areas across Canada. However, the program will not fund projects that impact the ecological integrity of existing ecosystems, such as native grassland ecosystems, or projects that help companies or organizations meet their legal obligations to regenerate forests.
The government’s plans also include consultation with an advisory committee of experts and other stakeholders as well as efforts to monitor the trees planted for survival and report on the carbon they sequester.
Critics of the initiative have questioned the financial feasibility of the plan as well as its slow-to-start timeline. According to a document obtained by the Canadian Press, Natural Resources Minister Seamus O’Regan Jr. said the government will “seek substantial cost-sharing by its partners” to cover costs beyond the $3.16 billion allotted for the initiative, which the Parliamentary Budget Office estimated was about half of total funding needed.
As for the timing of the initiative, government officials have cited delays brought on by COVID while also pointing to the time it takes to plant and grow new seedlings.
“Seedlings take two to three years before they’re ready for planting,” O’Regan said in a virtual press conference on June 4. “We’re working with our partners to increase nursery capacity by 30 to 40 per cent. That means multi-year agreements with partners to plant hundreds of millions of additional seedlings.”
O’Regan also said there will be 30 million trees planted by the end of the year and that constituents can expect a significant ramp-up in the number of trees planted over the coming years in order to meet the goal of two billion trees by 2030.
Danielle St-Aubin, CEO of Tree Canada, and Lara Ellis, senior vice president of policy and partnerships for Alternative Land Use Services (ALUS) Canada, joined the conference on June 4 to represent their organizations, which are early partners in the two billion tree initiative.
“Funding from the two billion trees program will go towards establishing close to 80 hectares of diverse natural forest on farmland across Ontario,” Ellis said. “More than 100,000 trees will be planted by our farmers this year.”
In addition to the trees planted by ALUS Canada, tree planting projects are underway in areas along the Trent-Severn Waterway as well as Rouge National Urban Park, Brampton and other locations across the province. Outside of Ontario, planting projects have been announced for Fundy National Park in New Brunswick, La Mauricie National Park in Quebec and Kejimkujik National Park in Nova Scotia, among other locations.
For more information about the two billion tree initiative, visit the Government of Canada’s website.
Planting On the Trent-Severn Waterway Has Begun As Part Of Canada’s Two Billion Tree Commitment