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Premier McGuinty said:
"Fighting climate change is a global challenge, and I'm proud Ontario is joining the United Nations Environment Programme's global campaign to plant a billion trees a year. Planting 50 million trees in southern Ontario will remove from our atmosphere by 2054 3.8 million tonnes of carbon dioxide, equal to 95-km car trips, and help us move forward, together, towards a future that is greener and healthier with a better quality of life for all Ontarians."

Professor Wangari Maathai, Nobel Peace Prize Winner, said:
"I must applaud Ontario for joining this world-wide effort to plant a billion trees. Many people, faced with huge, seemingly insurmountable challenges such as climate change can often feel powerless to act. Tree planting restores that power back to individuals and communities making them again part of the solution to the climate change challenge. However, the act of planting a tree goes further – reconnecting the human spirit to the beauty and importance of the natural world which is the basis of all life on Earth."

In the first phase of the programme, the Ministry of Natural Resources, through a partnership with the Trees Ontario Foundation, will invest more than $4 million to plant two million trees by 2008-2009, with a focus on large areas of open private and public land, including municipal and county forest lands, conservation authority lands and provincial lands. The province will work with the Trees Ontario Foundation, Ontario Stewardship and other partners to plan and deliver the programme locally. The ministry will also consult with the agencies and partners on the best way to ramp up the programme to plant as many as five million trees a year for a total of 50 million trees by 2020.

David Ramsay, Natural Resources Minister, said:
"Ontarians know that planting trees cleans the air, provides shade, increases wildlife habitat and helps prevent flooding, as well as storing carbon. By working together with conservation organisations and citizens, we can take action to reduce the impacts of climate change and grow a greener province."

The province will also work with the foundation and other partners to build on their public education and outreach efforts to raise awareness among landowners, the general public and children and youth of how planting trees improves our shared environment.