Reforestation group continues drive despite COVID-19

By Burak Bir

ANKARA (AA) – A U.S.-based reforestation organization said on Wednesday that they will continue their plantation drive safely despite the coronavirus outbreak.

“[At] Eden projects we acknowledge how serious the COVID-19 pandemic has become, but we're finding proactive ways to care for our employees and achieve our mission," Steve Fitch, the founder and CEO of Eden Reforestation Projects, said on Twitter.

In a video message, Fitch said that since restoration sites of the group are mostly far flung, their teams can safely plant and protect millions of new trees.

"The good news is our tree planting teams are all safe and healthy ... We began early on to train our team members in social distancing, hygiene standards, and adherence to travel regulations," he mentioned, adding that the group has decades of experience dealing with disruptive situations such as coronavirus.

Eden Reforestation Projects is a non-profit whose mission is to provide fair wage employment to impoverished villagers as agents of global forest restoration. They use the method of “employ to plant” which results in multiplication of forests.

According to its website, the organization has planted over 265 million trees across 82 sites in five countries so far.