Plantar Uma Árvore – Associação

Plantar Uma Árvore – Associação is a NGO created in 2012 that, since 2009, by that time as a citizen movement, develops volunteer programs aimed to the improvement of ecologically degraded areas, mainly through the restitution of native forests, involving the community. Plantar Uma Árvore – Associação aim is to develop short and long term volunteer programs, which can provide real results in terms of nature conservation, especially regarding native forests restitution. When deploying such volunteer programs, different target groups are involved, comprising multiple civil society stockholders and various dimensions of the community, such public and private bodies and non-profit organizations, that directly or indirectly are responsible or involved in the management and conservation of the natural areas and volunteers related with the general public, schools and companies. The first ones are engaged in collaborative dynamics, whether in the deployment of the volunteer programs or in the joint management of the natural areas, supporting the volunteer work. For that aim we develop a monthly agenda of initiatives and field trips targeted for short term volunteers, volunteer activities with companies, a volunteer program with schools, volunteer work camps with other non-profit organizations, a project to engage private land owners in nature conservation and a program for hosting long term volunteers, which are engaged in all the initiatives described before. We also manage a volunteer bank, having for a commonly recognized characteristic the high number of volunteers that it mobilizes in continuity, acting as a major platform for citizen mobilization for volunteer works at national level, under which each citizens are actively involved on the promotion and conservation of the natural heritage associated to native forests and autochthonous flora. The concrete works seek to restore natural heritage and ecological functions, promoting a higher biodiversity and, transversally, achieving ecological sustainability, raising awareness and improving citizen participation for a common goal.