A worldly perspective - Global ReLeaf International - American Forests Today

American Forests, Jan-Feb, 1993 by Doyle S. Rice

As Global ReLeaf International grows, it regreens hopes worldwide.

Eastern Europe proved to be a motherlode for Global ReLeaf International over the past year, with the three newest International partners--Bulgaria, Slovakia, and Ukraine--hailing from this rapidly changing part of the world. Those three bring the number of Global ReLeaf International partners to 11; an equal number are seeking partnership status. The other current partners are Canada, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Germany, Hungary, Kenya, Spain, and the United Kingdom.

GLOBAL RELEAF BULGARIA

Global ReLeaf Bulgaria was initiated in April through an agreement with "the Ecomonitoring Club to Wilderness Fund" located in Sofia, the capital. This not-for-profit organization was started in 1989 and operates at the national level. Its highest priority is establishing an educational environmental program that would include practical field work.

GLOBAL RELEAF UKRAINE

The Global ReLeaf partner in Ukraine is the National Ecocentre of Ukraine. It is centered in the capital city of Kiev and has 15 branches throughout the country. Ecocentre, an independent non-government public organization, was established by scientists and citizen activists under the leadership of local ecological citizen groups. It was established on August 30, 1991, immediately after the coup.

In September, the governor general of Canada, Ramon Hnatyshyn, paid a visit to Ukraine. It was Hnatyshyn's first official visit to his ancestral homeland, and while there he planted an oak tree. His wife, Herda, planted a Canadian maple. Attending the ceremony were Kiev's mayor, Ivan Saliy, and Lev Lukianenko, the Ukrainian ambassador to Canada. Lukianenko, who had been imprisoned for 15 years under the Brezhnev regime for his outspoken views on Ukrainian independence, planted a viburnum tree, long the symbol of an independent Ukraine.

The event received extensive news coverage and publicity for the Ecocentre. On November 1, Ecocentre staff, schoolchildren, and volunteers planted 1,000 trees on the banks of the Rubizh River near Kiev.

GLOBAL RELEAF SLOVAKIA

In Slovakia (at press time, it was still part of the Czech and Slovak Federal Republic), the Global ReLeaf partner is "the Slovak Union of Nature and Landscape Conservation." It was founded in 1969 as a voluntary organization with chapters throughout the country, Historically, Slovakia has been an advocate for the preservation of, and education about, its environment. Since Slovakia established the Department of Forestry in 1807, it has consistently striven to maintain healthy forests.

The tree-planting program of the Slovak Union of Nature and Landscape Conservation is called "the Green Traditions of Life." A recent declaration sent to AMERICAN FORESTS stated: "'The Green Traditions of Life' challenges forestry specialists, conservationists, and the general public to halt the trend toward environmental crisis."

HUNGARIAN MOVE-A-THON

Budapest, Hungary, was the site of the first Move-A-Thon, a festival of bicycling, walking, roller skating, and running. The September festival raised money as it heightened Hungarians' environmental awareness. The money went to the Independent Ecological Center (IEC), the nonprofit environmental organization that is Global ReLeaf's partner in Hungary, to help with its environmental projects, including tree planting.

Trees help combat air pollution, which has become such a problem in Budapest that it could ultimately make the city unlivable. According to George Gado, forest and program manager for Hungary's tree-planting projects, Budapest is one of the world's most polluted cities, with 44 percent of the population breathing heavily polluted air. Many of the bicyclists in the Move-A-Thon rode with masks, to draw attention to the situation.

Sponsors of the festival included Schwinn, Levi-Strauss, and Coca-Cola.

GLOBAL RELEAF ECUADOR

Fundacion Natura, Ecuador's Global ReLeaf partner, carried out many successful projects in 1992. In celebration of Earth Day, it planted more than 270 trees and sold T-shirts that read "For un planeta fresco ... mas arboles," which means "For a cool planet ... more trees."

Education booklets prepared by Fundacion Natura will be used by 20,000 students in the Ecuadorian highlands. Each student will also receive a seedling to plant.

REFORESTATION IN SPAIN

Depana, the Global ReLeaf partner in Catalonia, Spain, has announced two reforestation projects in and around Barcelona. The first, the Banyoles Lake Shoreline Restoration Project, involves the planting of about 4,000 ash, poplar, and willow trees. The first 50 trees were planted in April by volunteers, and the project was to continue through the fall, supported by $25,000 in funding from Fixonia, a Catalonian-based cosmetics company. Banyoles Lake was the site of the rowing events of the Summer Olympics in July.

Nearly 2,000 trees and 1,500 shrubs were planted as part of the restoration of the Llobregat River Forest, located in the town of Molins de Roi, 15 kilometers from Barcelona. As part of the project, litter was cleaned up along the river; the original shoreline was restored; and a nature trail, picnic area, observation platform, and information panel were created in the forest. Other programs in the works include the publication of Global ReLeaf educational and informational materials and a campaign on urban forests in Barcelona.