- It is a 10-10-10 tree-planting and ecosystem reforestation movement. The goal is to plant at least 10 million native trees in 10 years across 10 ASEAN Member States to help secure prosperity, economic recovery, well-being and health of the current and the future generations.
- It demonstrates the ASEAN region’s collective response and commitment to reverse the alarming decline of biodiversity and forest, globally. The ASEAN region plays a vital role in preventing, halting, and reversing the degradation of land and marine ecosystems globally, being the home to 60% of the world’s tropical peatlands, 42% of mangroves, and 15% of tropical forests. The region’s biodiversity also sustains the survival of more than 650 million people.
- It aims to recognise, support and replicate outstanding greening efforts in the region. The AGI aims to honour people’s commitment in healing the planet by setting recognition standards based on scientific and knowledge-based ecosystem restoration principles, and community empowerment and participation.
- It supports the balance between biodiversity conservation and sustainable development. Greening efforts should not only regrow our forests but contribute to peoples’ well-being, livelihood improvement, and resilience-building. All nominated tree-planting and ecosystem reforestation initiatives will be evaluated based on their ecological soundness, socio economic impact, sustainability, and compliance with governance and institutional mechanisms.
- It promotes actions that are guided by science and informed decisions. All interventions in restoring and conserving the ecosystem should be appropriate and should not harm the natural environment.
- It puts high preference on planting native or indigenous tree species. Native tree species are likely to regenerate faster in their natural environment, are more resilient and are more sustainable in the long term.
- It complements national greening plans and programmes of ASEAN countries. Across the region, there are already many ongoing and planned efforts to restore degraded forest ecosystems, these are significant progress that need to be monitored, expanded and sustained.
- It is aligned with and it contributes to the global agenda on ecosystem restoration and biodiversity conservation. The AGI is the region’s solid and ground response to the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, a global call to bring the world’s attention to act on urgent need to prevent, halt, and reverse the degradation of ecosystems worldwide.
- We believe that restoring ecosystems requires a collective effort. Everyone has a role to play in transforming a more sustainable world. There is no effort too little in making this happen. Everyone is encouraged to initiate, participate, and support tree planting and ecosystem reforestation activities. Every mindful action by everyone counts!
- We are building a region-wide movement. The AGI is just the beginning in building a momentum for more coordinated tree-planting and ecosystem reforestation efforts across the region. While ecosystem restoration and biodiversity conservation are ongoing priorities in the ASEAN region, there is no better time to scale our efforts up than now because every ASEAN deserves to enjoy the richness of our region’s biodiversity and live healthier, safer, and happier lives.
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10 things to know about the ASEAN Green Initiative
