BELFAST City Council is planning to plant one million trees over the next 15 years, after getting a grant of almost £290,000 aimed at getting all parts of the UK to tackle "the climate and nature crisis".
It is part of a £2.9 million "emergency tree fund" from the Woodland Trust to help councils plant trees and create green spaces in their communities.
The trust is aiming to establish 50 million more trees by 2025 and is also working with government, businesses, landowners and the public to achieve the goal.
The nature charity said it is providing funding to councils at a time when finances are tight to help create more green spaces and woodland which people have found valuable in the pandemic.
In the first phase of the project, the trust is working with 11 authority areas across the UK.
The charity said many local authorities have declared climate and nature emergencies and set out ambitious tree-planting targets - and the funding is aimed at helping make their green projects a reality.
It hopes to expand the scheme further in 2022.
John Tucker from the trust said its Emergency Tree Fund "has the power to inspire tree-planting and woodland creation and galvanise the need to treasure trees and green spaces in their neighbourhoods across the UK".
He said the fight against Covid has shown "how communities have come together in a time of crisis", and this can be "harnessed once again", this time "to tackle the climate and nature crises which also affects us all".
