News
All 2010 project news
Romania
2 May 2010
In April 2010, the NGO Mihai Eminescu Trust (MET) planted 10,000 trees in the village of Seica Mica as part of its first tree planting campaign of 2010. The area around this Transylvanian village is subject to severe soil erosion and pollution as a result of its proximity to the Copşa Mică metal smelting plant. The planting programme was carried out in collaboration with the local authority, the village school and 36 local people, including the Mayor of Seica Mica. Another planting campaign is scheduled for October this year in a neighbouring village. Since the programme began, MET has planted more than 20,000 trees in two Transylvanian communities, as well as in the Breite Reserve, whose 133 hectares contain some of the oldest oak trees in Europe.
Accor employees worked alongside MET to mark the Earth Day on April 22, travelling to Seica Mica to plant a large number of trees with the help of 50 children and teachers from the local school, as well as volunteers from the village itself. This planting initiative was made possible by the laundry savings generated in the Group’s Northern European hotels. The planting session was followed by a landscaping workshop held to involve the children in designing future plantations. All those who took part received educational kits containing information and equipment, such as magnifying glasses, tree planters’ certificates, T-shirts and ‘how to’ guides.
Brazil
1 May 2010
In January and February 2010, the NGO Nordesta in Brazil planted 29,223 trees of 42 different species over a total area of 35 hectares shared between the Serra da Canastra National Park and the Vargem Bonita community in the State of Minas Gerais.
Environmental awareness and education workshops were also held for local people to attend. A number of farmers took part in a training session on native bees led by a Lecturer from the Zoology Department of the Federal University of Minas Gerais in Belo Horizonte. The Director of the Serra Da Canastra Park worked with Nordesta to organize a tour of the region's plantations by local schoolchildren in April 2010.
SOS SAHEL
22 April 2010
On the occasion of Earth Day on April 21-22, some sixty Accor Senegal employees, accompanied by SOS SAHEL representatives, have visited the Lompoul region to meet the populations who both take part in the SOS SAHEL project financed thanks to Accor's "Plant or the Planet" reforestation project and benefit from it. Accor employees have seen the existing plantations and have planted a few trees themselves. Finally, 2,500 trees were planted during these two days.
Accor employees also had the opportunity to share moments with the populations around a good meal and two activities: making of a traditional oven allowing to use less wood and of a Tièboudieune, a traditional dish of rice and fish. For Earth Day, employees from the country's 2 hotels, Pullman Teranga and Novotel Dakar, together with employees from the regional Accor office, could see with their own eyes the project's positive impact in situ, acting as ambassadors and subsequently bearing witness in the 500 hotels involved in Southern Europe, Africa and the Middle East.
Australia
3 May 2010 Greening Australia has just completed the planting of 3,301 trees in a strip 50-100 metres wide along the banks of the Wollondilly River, which flows into the Hawkesbury River Basin. Ten or more different varieties of eucalyptus and acacia were planted in this latest six-week session. The planting technique used here is known as direct sowing, and involves the direct planting of tree seeds rather than young tree seedlings of a few months old. The strip of land itself forms part of the Arthusleigh experimental farm, where students from the University of Sydney will monitor the agronomic outcomes of the plantation programme.
Indonesia
15 February 201022,270 trees were planted in the Semarang region of central Java between December 2009 and February 2010 by the NGO A Tree For A Child. Of the three plots of land currently being planted, two are funded by the Accor group’s Plant for the Planet reforestation project. Every three months, the general manager of the Novotel in Semarang visits the site to see the progress made on this project.
The project was recently granted a further 20 hectares for new plantations.
Senegal
4 August 2010On 3 August 2010, the Thieppe Regional Council and the Senegal National Water and Forests Service celebrated Tree Day on plots of lands funded by Accor. In the space of this one day, 300 trees were planted to continue the work of combating desertification of this culturally strategic region of Senegal.
The one-day event also provided the opportunity to catch up on the progress made by the planting previously completed by Accor in partnership with SOS SAHEL. The young trees are growing well, and the specialists at SOS SAHEL believe that the plants will need no further watering once the first rains have fallen.
Thailand
26 June 2010 In 2009, Plant a Tree Today planted nearly 2,000 trees in Khao Tai National Park in central Thailand, several hours from Bangkok. By the end of this year, they will be joined by nearly 1,000 more. Training courses for local people are now underway to ensure that the tree nursery can be managed locally as part of this project, which has already seen the creation of an educational nature trail for park visitors. In fact, the start of the trail is the project nursery in the village of Sap Tai.
