January 27, 2022 | By Bronwen Largier
An environmental sustainability program in Noosa providing an avenue for public and business events to make a long-lasting environment impact will remove 487 tonnes of carbon dioxide from the Earth’s atmosphere from tree planting to date.
In collaboration with Noosa & District Landcare, Tourism Noosa’s Trees for Tourism initiative sees events donate a proportion of ticket sales or registrations to tree planting activities in the Queensland region. To date 3,930 trees have been planted.
Corporate groups and conferences can also incorporate tree-planting into their program through Trees for Tourism.
Trees planted in the Noosa region since the program began have increased shading on walking trails, assisted with preventing erosion and improved wildlife habitats.
“We have found many of our event organisers have embraced the program, sharing it with their event participants whilst others have used the tree planting as a team building day,” said Tourism Noosa’s Head of Tourism Sustainability, Juanita Terry-Bloomfield.
“The program was developed recognising the economic and social importance that events provide to the local community and our desire to find a positive way for events to give back environmentally.”
Each tree planted is projected to remove 124kg of CO2 throughout its lifetime.
Events which participate in the program include Noosa Eat & Drink Festival, Noosa Festival of Surfing, Noosa Triathlon and the Sunshine Coast Comedy Festival. Business events held at Peppers Noosa Resort and Villas have also contributed to Trees for Tourism in the past.