Greening Australia and Alcoa of Australia announced the official national launch of the three-year One Million Trees Project that will include over one thousand community members and land owners to return vital habitat for local wildlife, improve air and water quality, help carbon sequestration and reduce water consumption.
The One Million Trees Project will see the planting of more than one million trees south of Perth in Western Australia and Western Victoria during the course of the next three years, with a special focus on Peel Biolink and Habitat 141.
Located in the vicinity of Alcoa’s mining and alumina refining operations, Peel Biolink in SW region of WA is internationally recognised for its richness and diversity of the native flora and fauna; the biodiversity hot-spot is set to reconnect Darling Scarp to the Ramsar Listed Peel Estuary system through the re-vegetation and restoration of key ecological assets and biodiversity corridors.
Habitat 141 in SE Australia is a 50 year program to link the “outback to the ocean” and one of the largest environmental restoration project ever undertaken in Victoria. By enhancing the connectivity of Habitat 141 from Little Desert National Park in the north to the Portland area of the south coast, numerous threatened and endangered species will be preserved.
Extending from the Little Desert National Park in the north to the Portland area of the south coast, the Project will involve farmers and local community organisations that will join forces to restore rivers, wetlands and bushland.
“Greening Australia and Alcoa of Australia have extended one of Australia’s most successful corporate and environmental partnerships to a record 34 years by committing to plant over one million trees during the next three years,” said Brendan Foran, CEO of Greening Australia, in a media release.
“Together through the one million trees partnership, we can achieve something of enormous value for future generations — the preservation and enhancement of unique environments like the Peel Biolink and Habitat 141,” said Alan Cransberg, Alcoa of Australia Managing Director.
