Heroes2 Initiates Tree Planting Project in the Dongjiang Basin

Hong Kong-based Environmental Community NGO in Unique Collaboration With Guangdong Academy of Forestry

Heroes2, a social enterprise dedicated to encouraging, connecting and channelling individual participation to combat environmental threats, has completed its first tree planting at a site in Zijin County, Guangdong through a unique collaboration with the Guangdong Academy of Forestry (GAF). The Lashi Village site, which in the basin of the Dongjiang (East River), covers an initial 160 hectares and is now home to 6,000 newly-planted saplings of 59 different species with space for about another 234,000tress within the site.

The planting was carried out by villagers under GAF supervision with funding from Heroes2. The project goal is to create a sustainable forest that improves the environment, increases biodiversity and generates local income through the implementation of a community-based forest management model developed by the GAF for the International Tropical Timber Organiztion. Two Heroes2 corporate partners -- German discount garment retailer KiK and watch manufacturer Madison New York -- funded this season's planting.

“This first, small-scale planting is an important step for the Heroes2 reforestation program and our aim to fill the existing site and adjacent site in Lashi within three years,” said Raymond Yap, founder and chief executive of Heroes2. “This was initiated with corporate partner support and we're now positioned to launch the Heroes2 Buy One/Plant One scheme, harnessing consumer purchasing power for reforestation in the Dongjiang Basin. This helps protect the main source of fresh water for millions of people in Hong Kong and the Eastern PRD.”

According to China’s State Forestry Administration, there are more than 1.5 million hectares of degraded forest in Guangdong as as a whole with potential space for more than 2.25 billion trees to be planted. The GAF's forest management model is designed to balance livelihood and ecological benefits by interplanting economically valuable timber and non-timber species with fast-growing and high-yield indigenous forest species.

“Guangdong is the national leader in reforestation and the highest priority is given to sustainable forestry,” said Professor Zeng Linghai of the Guangdong Academy of Forestry. “The Lashi reforestation project is very innovative because it combines the first implementation of our new community-based management approach with Heroes2 Buy One/Pant One funding scheme. We see this as having a lot of potential to create new ecological forest areas in the DongjiangBasin and across the province.”

Like many parts of China, the hills around Lashi have suffered significant deforestation due to poverty and poor forest management. The GAF's community-based approach provides local farmers with incentive to participate in tree-planting and on-going activities to maintain the health of the forest since it can be sustainably harvested for a range of non-timber produce as well as high-value timber.

More photos can be found in the Gallery. You can also see a short documentary on the Lashi Plantation Project, made by Heroes2 Ambassador JuJu Chan, on YouTube.