PLANT A TREE – A GREAT ECO-FRIENDLY GIFT FOR ANY OCCASION!

What types of trees do EcoSwitch plant?

We plant a variety of trees including Mango, Apple or Indigenous Trees (such as the Mvule tree) to help offset CO2 emissions and assist local communities.

Indigenous trees are vital to communities and you can learn about the Mvule tree here. Fruit trees are particularly helpful to local communities because they retain water and each tree can produce £75 or $125 of fruit produce per year.

All trees are grown in the nursery between June-December each year, before being planted in the monsoon season between January and March.

How you can support the Tree planting programme?

To support the tree planting programme, please select a tree you wish to plant below. If you are buying 10 or more trees for someone’s birthday or Christmas present, we will plant 2 extra trees for you and you can request for us to forward you an e-mail or paper certificate in the notes section of the checkout.

	Mango Tree(s) @ £5.00 (inc VAT) each
	Apple Tree(s) @ £5.00 (inc VAT) each
	Indigenous Tree (s) @ £5.00 (inc VAT) each

What is the United Nations Billion Tree Campaign all about?

All trees planted by EcoSwitch are registered with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). UNEP have launched a ‘Billion Tree Campaign‘ in an effort to soak up escalating CO2 levels around the world. Trees are still known to be the most effective means of absorbing CO2 in the atmosphere; a gas linked by Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change (IPCC) scientists to the phenomenon of Global Warming and Climate Change.

What are the sceptics saying?

Whilst sceptics say that Tree Planting does nothing to address the human beings consumption and reliance on Fossil Fuels, Nasa and the Kyoto Protocol accept that the average tree planted will absorb 1 ton of CO2 in its lifetime. Trees are still often overlooked as a Carbon Offset solution, but they are the most natural and cost effective means of absorbing CO2. They also offer a host of other benefits to communities.

What do the United Nations want you to do?

The United Nations have therefore called upon each of the 7 Billion people on the planet to plant a minimum of 1 tree. 4.1 Billion have been planted so far. The number you should plant really depends upon what the total CO2 emissions are of your country, divided by the population. This computes a ‘tons of CO2′ figure per person, which then identifies the number of trees that need to be planted by each individual. A Tree calculator will shortly be available but in the meantime, if you are from Britain, each individual needs to plant 12 trees; each individual from the US needs to plant 18 trees.

What do EcoSwitch want you to do?

EcoSwitch are encouraging each individual to firstly switch to a greener energy tariff if you haven’t already done so and we’ll plant a tree for free for you (to get the ball rolling). All trees planted by EcoSwitch are registered with the United Nations tree planting programme. Once you have switched, if you are interested in planting more, based upon the amount specified in the Tree Calculator, you can purchase them below and they only cost £5.00 each in Africa compared to typical prices of £10-£15 in Europe and North America. You get more trees for your money abroad and we plant them in the Tropics (Uganda) because trees there are known to absorb up to 3 times more CO2 compared to those planted in Northern Hemispheres. It is important to plant as many trees as possible and get as much return in CO2 absorption.

Our Ugandan Nursery and tree planting operation

The Ugandan nursery is overseen by Theresa Komugisha Kabombora who holds an MSc in Seed Technology from Edinburgh University. She is based in Entebbe, Uganda.