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Climate change: The Woodland Trust launches million tree planting mission as part of Big Climate Fightback

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treesImage source, Woodland Trust

A conservation charity is looking for a million people to help a mass tree planting mission.

The Woodland Trust is launching the "Big Climate Fightback", aiming to help protect the planet and the UK environment.

The charity wants to get more than a million people to pledge to plant a tree in the run-up to a special day of planting across the UK on November 30, 2019.

By 2025, the Woodland Trust hopes to have planted a tree for every person in the country. All of the trees provided by the charity will be native broadleaf varieties, such as oak, birch and hawthorn.

More on trees and climate change

People without gardens or the means to plant their own trees are being encouraged to look for potential sites and ask their local council or the landowner for permission to plant.

How many trees need to be planted?

Image source, Woodland Trust

The government's climate change advisors have warned that there needs to be a big increase in tree planting in order to help cut greenhouse gas emissions.

They say 1.5 billion trees need to be planted to help the UK reach 'net zero' by 2050.

The Woodland Trust says meeting the target would require 50 million young trees going into the ground each year up to 2050.

Image source, Rosemary Wilman/WoodlandTrust
Image caption,

Experts say 1.5 billion trees need to be planted to help the UK be carbon neutral by 2050

But according to the Trust, in England in the past year just 1,420 hectares of woodland was created, against a government ambition of 5,000 a year.

The Trust said it recognised planting trees was not a "solve all" to climate change, and individuals needed to do more than plant a tree to help tackle the problem, but it says it hopes its plans give people a way to take direct action.

Why are trees important for fighting climate change?

Image source, Getty Images

Trees are great for the environment, they provide shade and do a pretty important job called photosynthesis.

Photosynthesis is a chemical reaction that happens inside plants that help them create food as well as use up carbon dioxide and create oxygen which is very good for the environment.

Plants basically help to filter our air.

The ability of trees to soak up carbon dioxide has long made them a valuable weapon in the fight against rising temperatures.

Image source, Getty Images

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) said that if the world wanted to limit the rise to 1.5C by 2050, an extra one billion hectares (2.4bn acres) of trees would be needed.

One of the big problems with using trees to help fight climate change is that it can take them many years to grow.

Norman Starks, the boss of the Woodland Trust, said: "The Big Climate Fightback is about inspiring people of all ages and backgrounds and providing the chance to take direct action - they have to simply go to our website and pledge to plant a tree, whether it's in their back yard, neighbourhood, school or at a nearby planting event."