Established by the United Nations Environment Programme in 1973, World Environment Day is the greatest global stand for environmentalist outreach. Taking place annually every June 5th, the day is commemorated by millions of people around the globe.
This year, World Environment Day was centred on land restoration, stopping desertification, and creating drought resilience. The 2024 slogan was “Our land. Our future. We are #GenerationRestoration.” Land restoration is a crucial objective of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, an international initiative to recover and re-establish demolished ecosystems, fight climate change, and protect biodiversity, all necessary to achieve the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.
The PomeGran Legacy forest
PomeGran has a 20-year+ history with ESG. For the last two decades, the PomeGran brand has contributed to Environmental, Social, Governance, and sustainability efforts, from our numerous Women in STEM scholarships to our reforestation initiatives. While the company focuses on broadband as an essential service, we also recognize the importance of supporting and connecting with communities through our ESG efforts.
In 2023, we officially announced our support for Reforestation! We have partnered with Evertreen, and through their program, we have committed to planting a minimum of 50,000 trees over five years to create the PomeGran Legacy Forest.
Kenya
In 2023, we made further progress with our initiative by planting 13,500 trees in Kenya. Kenya was chosen because the Mangrove trees native to the country have the highest impact on greenhouse gas emissions. Their forests operate as blue carbon ecosystems, which store massive amounts of carbon and help mitigate climate change.
In Kenya, the status of the local environment is closely tied to the country’s economy and is responsible for sustaining the economic welfare of millions. However, since 1985, Kenya has lost one-fifth of its mangrove cover to deforestation. Economic hardships have caused communities and disadvantaged individuals to feel the need to chop down and sell these protected trees illegally.
The PomeGran Legacy Forest project aims to protect and restore these forests on a massive scale by involving local Kenyan farmers and creating jobs for people living in dire situations by providing them employment and the chance to help combat climate change.
Canada
Canada’s 348 million hectares of forest land comprise roughly 9% of the world’s forest cover. The country has one of the lowest deforestation rates, at just 0.02%. This is because Canada has some of the world’s strictest environmental and forestry laws, which ensure the prime protection of our country’s ecosystems. At PomeGran, we believe it is vital that we continue to maintain this standard and protect and preserve our Canadian Forests.
We have planted Dry Deciduous trees in New Brunswick, which provide numerous benefits to local wildlife and the environment, such as shelter and soil enrichment. Last year, we planted 1,500 Coniferous trees in British Columbia, which serve as a carbon sink to tackle climate change.
We are proud to be a Canadian Company committed to global reforestation this World Environment Day. This is why we have implemented an Employee Matching Program for our Legacy Forest. To stay updated on our initiative, you can follow us on social media at @PomeGran. We hope you enjoyed celebrating our beautiful planet for World Environment Day 2024!
The Forest So Far
These are the locations and tree species we have added to our Legacy Forest:
Mangroves in Kenya: Avicennia marina (Grey Mangrove), Rhizophora mucronata (Red Mangrove), Ceriops tagal (Yellow Mangrove), Bruguiera gymnorrhiza (Black Mangrove), Sonneratia alba (White Mangrove).
Kelp in British Columbia, Canada: Giant kelp (Macrocystis pyrifera), Bull kelp (Nereocystis luetkeana), Alaria marginata, Saccharina latissima, Saccharina groenlandica.
Coniferous trees in British Columbia, Canada: Lodgepole Pine (Pinus contorta), Douglas Fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii), Englemann Spruce (Picea engelmannii), Subalpine Fir (Abies lasiocarpa), Western Red Cedar (Thuja plicata), Western Hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla), White Spruce (Picea glauca).
Dry Deciduous trees in New Brunswick, Canada: Red Maple (Acer rubrum), White Ash (Fraxinus americana), Yellow Birch (Betula alleghaniensis), and American Beech (Fagus grandifolia).