Timberland pledges to plant two million trees in Inner Mongolia

Timberland has partnered with Japan-based NGO Green Network to continue this tree-planting tour as part of the Timberland Earthkeepers programme, which started in 2001. Last year, Timberland fulfilled its pledge to plant one million trees across 300 hectares of the Harqin Desert. It has committed to planting another two million trees in total over the next 10 years.

Timberland is looking to also train and engage the local farming population. It hopes that wuth recognition of the significance and benefits of these initiatives, the local communities can eventually lead sustainable land management practices on their own.

"I am pleased to see that Timberland is endeavouring to make a positive and significant difference to the environment, and to the lives of the people in the Horqin region," Wang Dexi, head of the Horqin Forest Bureau, said.

Building on this year's tree-planting tour, Timberland has also rewarded the seven winners of its recent  'Outdoors: where relationships are made' photography contest with a trip to the Unesco natural heritage sites at Jiuzhaigou. The winners, from Mainland China, Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong will take more photos there, contributing to a coffee-table book to be produced later this year.