Tens of thousands of school children around Australia are today celebrating Schools Tree Day – which together with National Tree Day on Sunday brings communities together in a nationwide event to support and care for our environment.
Schools Tree Day raises awareness about care and preservation of our environment and gets children outside connecting with nature.
It was a pleasure to be able to plant a tree today at Boneo Primary School in Boneo, Victoria.
Congratulations to the several thousand school communities – children, teachers and parents – that are getting involved in this tremendous community initiative.
Congratulations also to Planet Ark on driving the success of National Tree Day. This year marks the 20th anniversary of an increasingly popular event.
National Tree Day raises awareness of our natural environment and has resulted in the planting of millions of trees, shrubs and grasses around the country.
A healthy natural environment is fundamental to Australians’ health, happiness and prosperity. That’s why the Government has committed $50 million to planting 20 million trees by 2020 to re-establish green corridors across our landscapes and provide habitat for threatened species.
The Australian Government is delivering on-ground actions that make a real difference to our environment and our local communities. As part of our 20 Million Trees commitment the Government recently announced funding of $300,000 to support the ‘One Tree Per Child’ initiative.
The ‘One Tree Per Child’ initiative is a community-based campaign to have all two million primary school children in Australia plant a tree by 2020.
Together with the $700 million Green Army programme, which has already seen more than 330 Green Army teams rolled out, and other National Landcare Programme investments, the Government’s total investment in natural resource management is more than $2 billion over four years.
The 20 Million Trees initiative is an important part of the Australian Government’s National Landcare Programme.
More information is available at www.nrm.gov.au/20-million-trees
(ENDS)