This text is taken from the Courrier de la Planète of November 8, 2022. To subscribe, click here.
Remember Justin Trudeau’s Liberal promise to plant two billion trees by 2030? This pledge, made as part of the 2019 election campaign, has so far reportedly planted a maximum of 90 million trees, according to data provided by the federal government.
In September 2019, on the sidelines of the climate mobilization which brought together some 500,000 people in the streets of Montreal, the Liberal leader announced his intention to carry out a plan to plant two billion trees before the end of the decade. 2020.
“We know that planting trees is one of the best solutions for a greener future. Trees are durable, renewable, and recycle themselves over time. Now all we have to do is plant the first one,” Trudeau said. To achieve this “by 2031”, the federal government has finally planned investments of $3.2 billion.
90 million trees
According to data provided by Natural Resources Canada, in 2021, the first year of the program, “29 million trees of more than 150 species were planted at more than 500 locations in Canada”, or 97% of the target of 30 million for the year.
How many were added in 2022? It is not possible to know for the moment, since “the beneficiaries of the program have until the end of January 2023 to provide reports on the plantation activities”, specifies the ministry. “The process of compiling data for the hundreds of sites and millions of trees planted, including cleaning, processing and validating the data, takes months. »
The federal estimate, however, reports the planting of 60 million trees for the current year. What’s more, Natural Resources Canada estimates that “the program is on track to meet its goal of planting two billion trees by 2030”.
Assuming that 90 million trees were planted in two years, the rate would have to increase to an average of 212 million per year, by 2031, to hope to meet the two billion objective. Ottawa says it is confident of getting there.
Such a project, however, requires “careful planning”, it is specified. “It’s a complex process that involves many steps: collecting seeds, growing seedlings in the nursery, preparing the site and planting the trees. Many of these activities are seasonal, with some occurring only four or five months out of the year. »
Wanted trees
Tree planting is already a common practice in the country, mainly as part of reforestation programs that follow logging. In Quebec, for example, the most recent data show that 130 million trees leave government nurseries each year to “contribute to the renewal of our forests”.
Under the federal program, however, the trees planted cannot be used to meet legal reforestation obligations. In this sense, the Trudeau government’s program has a stimulating effect on tree planting, says the general coordinator of Arbre-Évolution Coop, Simon Côté. “There are a lot of people contacting us who are interested in planting trees. »
That said, he points out that it is not easy to plant so many trees, especially because of the availability of these. Nurseries already have a lot to do to provide the necessary trees, outside of the two billion seedlings program. Mr. Côté adds that the federal government does not fully fund the planting of each tree, which can constitute an obstacle to the realization of certain projects. The average cost per tree ranges from $2.04 (mass planting projects) to $55.67 (urban projects), according to official data.