City plants 223,000 trees in two years

In the last two years, the City of Greater Sudbury has planted more than 223,000 trees as part of its re-greening program.

This year, the city has planted 60,000 trees. The two year total counts toward the United Nations "Billion Tree Campaign," in which the UN hopes to see seven billion trees planted world-wide - one for every person in the world.

"Greater Sudbury's re-greening efforts are truly a source of pride for this community," said Mayor John Rodriguez, in a press release.

"Through the efforts of many dedicated community members, we have planted more than one tree for every resident of our city, and have contributed nearly a quarter of a million trees toward 'Billion Tree Campaign'."

The seven billion milestone was reached in September, when China planted 2.6 billion trees as part of the campaign. The total amount of trees planted is 7.3 billion, in 167 countries.

The Billion Tree Campaign was launched in 2006 as a way of giving public expression to the challenges of climate change, as well as forest and ecosystem degradation. More than half of the participants in the campaign are private individuals.