A million trees – every year
If you go up into the mountains outside Beirut in Lebanon and head to the little village of Ammatour, you’ll find something extraordinary: one of the world’s largest tree nurseries. It’s only half-finished at the moment, but when it’s complete it will be a place where a million trees can be grown at a time and then transported to areas at risk of desertification and other threats to our environment.
The nursery has been created through a partnership between Diageo and Lebanon’s Association for Forest Development and Conservation, with support from many employees in the region who have raised in excess of £65,000 through sponsored bike rides and mountaineering, as well as other events and parties.
The nursery has three separate terraces, each of which will nurture around 335,000 seedlings, and was planted by around 40 workers employed through Diageo’s donations. The trees will grow for a year to 18 months before being replanted in communities that have suffered from deforestation.