As part of our promise to be Nature positive by 2030, we've officially joined veritree as a founding partner in their 10 million verified tree challenge.
Together, it's our goal to plant 500,000 mangroves in Madagascar by the end of 2022. Madagascar is one of the most heavily degraded ecosystems on the planet — yet also one of the most important.
Why mangroves?
Mangroves are sometimes referred to as a 'super tree' for several reasons:
- They sequester four times as much carbon as other species
- They protect coastlines from storm damage.
- They provide habitats for juvenile marine life, boosting local fishing stocks that provide a vital source of food and income.
The importance of verified trees
veritree’s blockchain technology solves the two main challenges that have always plagued tree-planting efforts: transparency and verification. Using their proprietary planting technology, veritree can verify each tree as it's planted and track vital information as it grows. This prevents the tree — and the carbon benefits it provides — from being double-counted or resold.
Investigations into some of the most well-established conservation and tree planting programs have revealed the possibility of fake carbon credits or double-counted trees. Such findings have begun to foster public mistrust in nature-based solutions such as reforestation and the voluntary carbon market — which are now facing unprecedented challenges to their authenticity and impact.
At a time when nature-based solutions are needed more than ever to restore losses to the planet’s biodiversity & mitigate climate change, technologies such as veritree’s are vital to rebuild consumer trust and create real impact.
We’ve also chosen to separate our tree planting efforts and our carbon goals, for a very important reason: it’s critical for us to focus on decarbonization while restoring nature through our replanting efforts. By not relying on carbon offsets to achieve both, we can create the impact we need to fix the climate and biodiversity challenges the world is facing.
Stay tuned to our dashboard to track our planting progress through the year at https://vega.veritree.com/
