Yesterday I set out to participate in the official tree planting campaign put on by the Polish Government for the annual conference on climate change (COP19). My real goal however was to film our first short video for our video campaign ‘Kiwi at COP”. We arrived at the site and I immediately changed into Jandals, Stubbies and a Swanny. About 300 Polish officials, civilians and school children stared in absolute disbelief. It is now the beginning of winter in Poland and it is cold. I set out to work planting with at least 2 film crews in tow; I was now the story of the day. During the planting I set up the camera and began filming what would be our first video for ‘Kiwi at COP’. I was interviewed by the Polish press at the end of the day and the following will explain my views.
The idea of the planting is to partially offset the C02 emissions produced by people travelling to COP19 in Warsaw. 9000 Trees in total were planted to theoretically represent 9000 people attending COP (over 10,000 are attending). Now this may sound like a great idea and romantic gesture by the Polish government BUT to make it absolutely clear this ‘partial off-set’ of tree planting in no way offsets the emissions produced by people travelling to COP. We were in fact re-planting a forest that would have been re planted regardless of the conference happening in Poland. Therefore no additional C02 emissions were being off-set by the act. The reality is Poland is over 90% reliant on coal for electricity and has shown no signs of converting this to renewable generation. This act of tree planting is merely a publicity stunt to distract from the real issues.
I am not criticising the act of tree planting. Planting forests as well as sustainably managing those forests are critical acts of supporting our eco-system and sequestering C02 emissions to mitigate climate change. However when this act is used as a false claim to gain positive public attention and is in no way offsetting C02 emissions. I consider this morally wrong and not in the spirit of the UN and climate change negotiations.
By Matt Gibbons 
Thanks Matt,
Indeed, there is a lot of hypocrisy around the climate change issue. Maintaining or increasing the area of forests is something that every country should do as a matter of course - regardless of climate change. There are plenty of reasons for doing this - to provide wood and other forest products, for biodiversity, for clean water, for landscape, for recreation, for erosion control, for flood mitigation and more.
The fact that more forests will store/sequester more atmospheric carbon is an added bonus from having more forests.
Keep enjoying the conference, however despairing it might seem. Make lots of friends, learn everything you can, and continue to be a voice for concerned youth. Some of us who are older see hope in your generation.
Best wishes to you and the team.
Andrew McEwen
Hi Daniel,
Thank you for your feedback. Have you checked out our 2013 policy document? No one is arguing against measures to increase forests and biodiversity, clearly these acts are crucial to reducing our emissions. What we have a problem with is the green washing of planting trees which are clearly part of a plantation area for commercial use and a tactic to cover up Poland’s coal industry and poor form at the negotiations. Cheers, NZYD.