There was a great turnout for the Forest Tree planting excursion this morning with thirty four people from ARC+ joining the trip to the mountains above Gran Canaria. World Cruising Club has teamed up with a local non-profit organisation in Gran Canaria, Foresta, who manage the reforestation project. Working with Foresta ensures that the trees are planted where they are most needed and that native species best suited to the climate are planted. The trees will eventually grow to become a sustainable forest linking areas of historic indigenous woodland around the mountain and restoring the native cloud forest eco-system.
The collaboration with World Cruising Club and Foresta started in 2010 and since then over 3,300 trees have been planted by volunteers from ARC and ARC+ on deforested sites in the Arucas mountains. The project was developed and is sponsored by World Cruising Club as a way to help offset the carbon emissions created during the Atlantic crossing.
A wide range of ages joined the trip today with the youngest being only 2 and a half, managing to plant 68 trees in unusually hot weather!