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One Million Trees Movement in Singapore
26 September 2023
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📷: Volunteers planting trees as part of the OneMillionTrees movement. [Photos by NParks]
#TIL that Singapore is on track to plant one million trees by 2030, bringing the total number of trees in Singapore to more than 8 million – that’s nearly 11,000 trees per square kilometre of land area!
Launched in April 2020, the OneMillionTrees movement is a key part of NParks’ “City in Nature” vision. As its name suggests, this nationwide effort seeks to plant one million more trees across Singapore over ten years: at streetscapes, gardens, parks, park connectors, nature reserves, nature parks and more. Only three years in, the movement had already crossed the halfway mark, with more than 540,000 trees already introduced and planted, and is projected by NParks to complete in 2027 – three years ahead of its 2030 target.
The OneMillionTrees movement is a timely endeavour in Singapore’s development, as more forests are cleared to make way for residential and commercial developments.
The new trees are grown on planned areas of designated land, and involves Singaporeans in building this legacy: community volunteers gather to physically plant trees, conduct outreach and education efforts, partake in forest restoration works, and in designing planting plans! Corporate entities can also be part of this movement by the Plant-A-Tree programme, a fundraiser under the Garden City Fund, a charity established by NParks.
The importance of trees to our living environment cannot be understated. Trees help purify our air by absorbing carbon dioxide and pollutants, keep the living environment cooler, become habitats and shelter for wildlife, slow down floodwaters, and also help us cope with living in what can sometimes be an overwhelming urban environment.
Our trees provide intangible benefits for our livelihood and well-being, even if we don’t realise it consciously. It would be difficult to imagine a Singapore without greenery. So even as Singapore continues to urbanise, we have a responsibility to be careful stewards of our living environment — for our city, our island's wildlife and our future generations to come.
#Singapore #NParks #OneMillionTrees #Nature #Conservation #CityInNature