UPM plants thousands of trees with school children

UPM organises a global Plant a Tree Day each year in spring and especially on May 22nd, the UN International Day for Biodiversity. This year school children and other stakeholders in Finland, the UK, Russia, China, the US and Uruguay participated in Plant a Tree events.

In Finland the school children and UPM forest professionals plant trees together in Pyhäjärvi, Nokia and Joroinen. UPM participates also as a partner in the ENO tree planting day in Espoo, one of the global events organized by ENO Environment Online. The seedlings for these events come from UPM's nursery in Joroinen, which produces high quality seedlings of native origin to be used to regenerate UPM forest service customers' and UPM company forests.

"A tree seedling and a school child are creators of the future," says Päivi Salpakivi-Salomaa, Vice President, UPM Environment. "Planting a tree is an investment and good for the climate. A growing tree sequestrates atmospheric carbon throughout its lifetime. The new forest improves the quality of surface and ground waters, it creates the preconditions for berry and mushroom production and makes a habitat for hundreds of other species."

Every year UPM plants more than 50 million tree seedlings. The long time span of sustainable forestry materialises in tree planting. Forest regeneration is a central element of responsible forest management.

Wood is a versatile renewable raw material for various useful products which can be used e.g. in the construction and joinery industry, as printing and writing paper, in packaging, tissue paper, bandages, clothes, the pharmaceutical industry or as an energy source. Wood makes no waste, the products are recyclable and in the end they can be used for bioenergy production.