Glenisk and Self Help Africa have begun the reforestation of 100ac of former forest land in Co Offaly as part of their One Million Trees campaign.

Hundreds of thousands of native Irish trees will be replanted on the land adjacent to the Glenisk production facility in Killeigh.

First launched in 2020, One Million Trees is a climate action programme by Self Help Africa, supported by Glenisk, with a goal to plant 1m native trees in sub-Saharan Africa and a further 100,000 native trees in Ireland.

Such was the response to the first year of the campaign that the parties have committed to planting another 1m trees in 2021.

Glenisk managing director Vincent Cleary said: “The replanting of the former Glenisk Wood is an important step in reducing carbon from the atmosphere locally, in supporting biodiversity in the region.”

Poor communities

So far, more than one million tree seedlings have been planted in Africa across 138 sites as part of the campaign since March 2020.

The initiative has seen 192,100 people trained and 1,900 acres of trees planted, as well as 15 different varieties used.

In late March, the one millionth tree was planted on community-managed land close to Lake Ziway, Ethiopia, at a location where over 400,000 tree seedlings have been planted since spring 2020.

Elsewhere, the campaign planted hundreds of trees on family farms, on community land and on publicly owned lands in Malawi, Kenya, Uganda and Burkina Faso.

Self Help Africa CEO Ray Jordan said: “This campaign has provided us with an opportunity to raise funds for vital tree-planting activities.

“It also highlights the huge impact that global warming is having on rural poor communities in Africa, where many of the people who are least responsible for climate change are feeling its worst effects.”

To find out more about these projects, click here.