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Plant a Billion Trees

Trees in forest
McMahon Lake Preesrve Forest Sun streaming through trees at McMahon Lake preserve © Bigfoot Media (Jason Whalen)

Together We Can Plant More Trees

Planting a billion trees can help us curb the effects of climate change. It's a big number, but we know we can do it with your help.

Donate to Plant Trees Today
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What is Plant a Billion Trees?

The Nature Conservancy's Plant a Billion Trees campaign is a major forest restoration program. Our goal is to plant a billion trees across the planet to slow the connected crises of climate change and biodiversity loss. Donate to help us plant more trees today! 

A BILLION BEGINS WITH ONE (1:26) A lot can change in a lifetime, including the planet we live on. For better, or for worse. But we have the power to restore balance. Helping our planet is bigger than us, but it starts with each of us. Help us plant, protect, and restore forests by planting your tree today.

Why are we planting a billion trees?

Trees provide so many benefits to our everyday lives. They filter clean air, provide fresh drinking water, help curb climate change, and create homes for thousands of species of plants and animals.

Planting a billion trees can help save the Earth from climate change and biodiversity loss. When we restore and conserve critical forests, we remove carbon and support biodiversity. A billion is a big number, but we know we can do it together. Help plant trees today!

A view of New York Harbor and the Statue of Liberty from Governors Island.
Governors Island A view of New York Harbor and the Statue of Liberty from Governors Island. © 2018 Diane Cook & Len Jenshel

The true meaning of life is to plant trees under whose shade you do not expect to sit."

Nelson Henderson

Farmer and WWI Veteran

Trees exhale for us so that we can inhale them to stay alive. Can we ever forget that? Let us love trees with every breath we take until we perish."

Munia Khan

Author
Charles River, Boston, MA.
Charles River, Boston, MA. Charles River, Boston, MA. © iStock/Alija
Fog hanging over a forest canopy.
Banks of the Klamath River The Yurok Tribe, the largest tribal group in California, owns land around the Klamath River and are participants in California's forest carbon offset program. © Kevin Arnold

Help Us Plant a Billion Trees

You’ll do more than put a seed in the ground; you’ll make sure these forests survive for future generations.

Plant Your Trees

Read More About Our Work

Planting of new reforestation areas.

Blog

Yes, Trees Are a Viable Climate Solution

By Lynn Scarlett

A Valdivian Coastal Reserve park guard stands between two giant Alerce trees covered in moss and leaves.

Feature

6 Ways Trees Benefit All of Us

Tropical dry forest during the wet season at the Karen Mogensen F. Reserve which is situated within the protected zone of the Nicoya Peninsula.

Feature

How Nature Can Help Heal Our Planet

MISSING DESCRIPTION

Feature

Funding Trees for Health

Hands reach up next to a longleaf pine stump

Magazine Feature

Pine Country: Bringing Back Longleaf Pine Forests

By Jennifer Winger

Help us plant trees

Feature

Learn More About Plant a Billion Trees

Check out this video to find out how the Plant a Billion Trees program is helping our planet.

Watch Video
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FAQs

General Information

  • The Plant a Billion Trees campaign is a large-scale restoration initiative launched by The Nature Conservancy in 2008. Our first project was to restore Brazil's Atlantic Forest, and now we have expanded to include forest projects all across the world! By planting trees and helping forests regrow where they have been severely degraded, we're helping to reduce the impacts of climate change, slow biodiversity loss, ensure clean water and air for everyone, and provide full, healthy forests for future generations.

  • Forests help sustain all life on Earth. They clean our water. Cleanse our air. Cool our planet. Store our carbon. Trees give us refuge and refreshment, shade and shelter.

    The Plant a Billion Trees campaign will help restore the health of our natural environments. Planting trees will improve important watersheds that provide clean drinking water and hydroelectricity to millions of people, as well as protect thousands of species of plants and animals.

  • It is ambitious, but forests around the world are worth the effort. They are essential to healthy lives and planet. We will need to stretch in ways that challenge us and deepen our partnerships around the world. Together, we can achieve more than any of us can alone.

    TNC has over 400 scientists on staff that specialize in a range of different fields including forest ecology, water, climate mitigation, soil, carbon and other related areas. They are working to find the best ways to ensure the forests we restore and re-establish are viable ecosystems that provide multiple benefits to people and nature.

    Founded in 1951, because of donations like yours, The Nature Conservancy has the means, experience and track record to work closely with partner organizations to meet this important goal.

More Details

  • The cost to plant a tree varies depending on the location of the project and the type of tree being planted, and ranges between approximately $1.50-$3 USD per tree. Beyond covering costs to simply plant the seedlings in the ground, donations support ongoing maintenance, research, and stewardship at Plant a Billion sites to ensure the seedlings grow to be mature, healthy trees.

    Donations also help pay for the reforestation efforts at PBT projects, such as the removal of invasive species, protecting areas where tree saplings are growing, encouraging species to return to degraded areas, and removing any barriers that might prevent a forest from regrowth. Up to 20% of the cost is used to help administer the program.

  • Monitoring procedures vary from site to site, but generally, TNC staff conduct regular site visits to oversee qualitative and quantitative surveys. We gauge measures such as seedling survival rates and tree sizes, as well as assessing ecosystem conditions for invasive/competing species to ensure we are making the appropriate adjustments to best care for our trees over time.

  • TNC staff and scientists, based in-country, manage each of our planting projects. To help accomplish this work, we collaborate with a network of in-country partners—including governments, forestry companies, local cooperatives, non-governmental organizations and local communities. Additionally, we offer assistance and technical guidance to others, using established TNC projects as a model to accelerate results and efficiencies.

  • Partnering with Indigenous Peoples and local communities has been an important part of TNC’s approach for many years. Our partnerships with Indigenous Peoples and local communities are opportunities for mutual learning, sharing and benefit between the communities and TNC. We strive for transformational—not transactional—partnerships in the spirit of reciprocity. We learn from and support their leadership in stewarding their lands and shaping their future.

    Plant a Billion Trees, in particular, works very closely with Indigenous communities at our planting sites in Mexico and Brazil, which are homes to, respectively, the Mayan Forest and the Amazon. Through continued and expanded partnerships, TNC envisions strong indigenous organizations and peoples sustainably managing their lands, while collaborating with governments and other organizations to guarantee the integrity of those areas for future generations.

  • Our Plant a Billion Trees reforestation projects yield important carbon benefits by capturing and storing carbon, helping to stabilize our climate. However, these projects do not offer certified carbon credits or offsets. TNC does offer a Carbon Calculator to estimate your carbon footprint. You can read more about carbon markets and their effects on climate change here.

Support

  • Thank you for caring about the world's forests! To help us reach our goal of planting and protecting one billion trees, get started with your tree donation. Your support will help us plant trees and protect and restore forests in a location of your choosing, or you can choose to let us decide where the funds are most needed.

    There are other ways to get involved, too:

    • You can check out volunteer opportunities with The Nature Conservancy.
    • Sign up for your local TNC monthly e-newsletter, Nature News.
    • You or your organization can partner with TNC.
  • If you know someone who loves nature and conservation, Gift a Tree is the perfect option to send them a token of appreciation, celebrate a holiday, or honor a loved one. Write a heartfelt message in the form, pick a date, and we will send an e-card letting the recipient know they were gifted trees.

    For each $10 donation received as part of our Gift a Tree option, TNC will plant five trees in our critical forests around the globe. The more you gift, the more trees will be planted in celebration.

    Share the ability to gift a tree with friends and family by using plantabillion.org/giftatree.

  • The Nature Conservancy is a 501(c)3 organization, and donations are tax-deductible. For Plant a Billion Trees donations, you can claim the entire amount of your cash gift as a charitable income tax deduction. The IRS allows you to claim this deduction up to 60% of your adjusted gross income (AGI).

    The Nature Conservancy does not provide legal, tax or accounting advice. You are encouraged to consult your own professional advisors on tax matters.

    The Nature Conservancy's tax ID number (EIN) is 53-0242652.

    For more information about donating to TNC, visit here.

  • If you ever have any questions about the Plant a Billion Trees program or need assistance, please contact our member care services by emailing member@tnc.org or calling 800-628-6860.

  • If you are an company/organization that is interested in partnering with TNC, find more information here.

  • While we do not have any specific resources from Plant a Billion Trees, our Nature Lab program has an extensive curriculum to help students learn the science behind how nature works for us and how we can help keep it running strong.

Sunlight shining through a stand of tall trees.
McMahon Lake Preesrve Forest Sun streaming through trees at McMahon Lake preserve © Bigfoot Media (Jason Whalen)

Help Us Plant a Billion Trees

You’ll do more than put a seed in the ground; you’ll make sure these forests survive for future generations.

Plant Your Trees

Plant a Billion Trees Planting Locations

Learn more about where we are planting through the Plant a Billion Trees program and where your donation can have a direct impact.

  • Brazil
  • China
  • Colombia
  • Guatemala
  • Kenya & Tanzania
  • Mexico
  • United States
Aerial view of the tops of trees in a dense forest.
Forest from above Aerial view of a green forest. © Jarmo Piironen/EyeEm

Help Us Plant a Billion Trees

You’ll do more than put a seed in the ground; you’ll make sure these forests survive for future generations.

PLANT YOUR TREES

Our Partners

Learn about our partners who have helped plant trees across the globe.

Amex logo
Asarasi logo
Back to Nature logo
Dave Matthews Band logo
Dreaming Tree logo
Electrolux logo
Herbal Essences Terracycle logo
Irish Spring logo
Microsoft logo
Nature Valley logo
T-Mobile logo
Path leading through a green, misty forest.
The Green Tunnel This picture beautifully illustrates what is known as "The Green Tunnel" on the Appalachian Trail. On the morning of June 4th of 2015 I captured this image in Virginia while thru hiking the Appalachian Trail. The lush vegetation and whimsical fog embodied everything I love about nature. When I view this image I am temporarily transported back into the forest. © Andrew Forestell

Help Us Plant a Billion Trees

You’ll do more than put a seed in the ground; you’ll make sure these forests survive for future generations.

Plant Your Trees

Give the Gift of Tree Planting

Celebrate a holiday, a significant occasion, or recognize someone special by donating to plant trees—it’s the perfect gift for everyone! For each donation, The Nature Conservancy will plant trees in our critical forests around the globe. The more you gift, the more trees will be planted in celebration. Take the guesswork out of shopping by giving the most sustainable gift you could give.

Gift Trees Today

Why Gift a Tree?

By giving the gift of tree planting with the Nature Conservancy you can celebrate a person or special occasion while also giving back to nature. Here are some highlights:

  • Quick & Simple

    Write a heartfelt message, pick a date and we will deliver an e-card right to their inbox.

  • Universal Gift

    Trees enhance our lives no matter where or how we live, making this the perfect gift for anyone.

  • Long Term Benefits

    Creating healthy forests will help filter air, give fresh drinking water, and help curb climate change.

Share the ability to gift a tree for a friend or a loved one by using plantabillion.org/giftatree.

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