By MediaGlobal News Service
30 July 2008 [MEDIAGLOBAL]: Thailand launched its “Plant for the Planet, Plant for the Future” campaign this weekend as part of the United Nations Environmental Program’s (UNEP) Billion Tree Campaign, which recently set a new goal of planting seven billion trees by the end of 2009. Thailand’s campaign was launched at the opening ceremony of the Sirindhorn International Environment Park (SIEP), where the plan is to plant about 300,000 tree species in hopes of preserving forests as well as promoting awareness of the importance of trees to the environment. Spokesperson for UNEP Nick Nuttall told MediaGlobal, “The billion dollar tree campaign, which is now the seven billion dollar tree campaign, is just trying to galvanize the public to put pressure on their leaders to do something about global warming.” The campaign’s key goal is to make the public aware that they can be part of the solution to global warming, and it has been quite successful in doing so. According to Nuttall, the campaign in Thailand began with the royal family approaching UNEP to get involved in the Billion Tree Campaign, which is how Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn got involved. Nuttall says, “We’d like other members of royal families in other parts of the world to get involved because, in many countries, royal families still command huge respect in their population.” The Billion Tree Campaign is just one example of what is needed between now and the United Nations Climate Change Convention in late December 2009 to help preserve the environment and combat global warming.
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