State commits to worldwide One Trillion Trees pledge
Posted on Oct 27, 2021 in Capitol Connection, Featured, Main
Restoring native trees is a priority.
The state has pledged to conserve, restore, and grow 100 million trees in Hawaiʻi by the year 2030. It’s part of a worldwide effort called the One Trillion Trees movement to achieve net-negative carbon goals and combat global warming. Hawaiʻi will get this done by protecting existing forests, conserving private land through legal protections, planting trees to restore and reclaim forest lands, advancing agroforestry, planting in urban areas, and facilitating natural regeneration.
The state’s pledge will be carried out by the Department of Land and Natural Resources, the Department of Transportation and the Department of Defense, working with private and federal partners. DLNR director Suzanne Case explained, “Forest carbon projects capture carbon dioxide (CO2), the greenhouse gas largely responsible for climate change. In 2017, Hawaiʻi forests sequestered 2.69 metric tons of CO2. Our pledge is to increase this by 2030.” Governor Ige, along with other leaders worldwide, has emphasized the urgency of these efforts. “Our islands are a microcosm of our planet,” said the governor. “When we announced the Sustainable Hawaiʻi Initiative in 2016, I knew our community stood behind our commitments to capture more greenhouse gases than we emit. Everyone can do something to reach these goals and support programs of reforestation, watersheds and marine environment.”