Glenisk commences plan to reforest 100 acres in Offaly
Glenisk and Self Help Africa have today (Monday) started the reforestation of 100 acres of former forest land in Offaly as part of their One Million Trees campaign.
The project will involve hundreds of thousands of native Irish trees being replanted on land adjacent to the Glenisk production facility in Killeigh.
It was launched by the organic dairy company's Managing Director, Vincent Cleary, Self Help Africa CEO, Ray Jordan; campaign ambassador, Kathryn Thomas; and Pippa Hackett, Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food & the Marine.
First launched in 2020, One Million Trees is a local-to-global climate action programme by Self Help Africa, supported by Glenisk.
The campaign's goal is to plant 1,000,000 native trees in sub-Saharan Africa and a further 100,000 native trees in Ireland, driven through public donations as well as funding and in-store promotions from Glenisk.
Such was the response to the first year of the campaign that the parties have committed to planting another million trees in 2021.
So far more than 1,000,000 tree seedlings have been planted in Africa across 138 sites as part of the campaign, since March 2020.
In late March, the one-millionth tree was planted on community-managed land close to Lake Ziway, Ethiopia, at a location where over 400,000 tree seedlings have been planted since Spring, 2020.
Elsewhere, the campaign planted hundreds of trees on family farms, on community land and on publicly owned lands in Malawi, Kenya, Uganda and Burkina Faso.
In Ireland, Glenisk has focused on planting native Irish trees - the likes of Birch, Oak and Wild Crab Apple - which will have a far more positive impact on our environment and in supporting biodiversity than the large conifer plantations used for the logging industry.
Mr Cleary, Glenisk's Managing Director, said he was excited for the next chapter of the campaign as the local reforestation project commences.
“Climate change is yet another global pandemic we face, and now is the time to make meaningful change," he commented.
"We know that sustainability and environmental consciousness are genuine concerns for our customers and for our business, so we are proud to be able to take action through large scale tree-planting projects with Self Help Africa.
"This is one of many steps for the business in reducing our carbon footprint, as we increase our capacity for renewable energy to power our production and remove plastic from our packaging with new climate neutral pots.
"The replanting of the former Glenisk Wood is an important step in reducing carbon from the atmosphere locally, in supporting biodiversity in the region and in the brand's heritage," he said.
For further information on the Self Help Africa campaign, visit https://selfhelpafrica.org/onemilliontrees/ to donate €5 to plant one tree in Ireland and ten trees in Africa.