Standing up for forests

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The area covered by forests around the world is constantly receding. But every single new tree can help, as shown by DHL in India. The world’s forest resources that are so important for the climate and the animal kingdom are constantly diminishing through deforestation, acid rain and economic exploitation. Particularly in the 1990s, the development was alarming, especially with regards to the largely untouched tropical and subtropical rain forests. And even if the rate of deforestation has slowed down, roughly thirteen million hectares are still lost every year, which roughly corresponds to the land area of Greece.

To counteract this development, every project counts. The employees of the DHL Global Service Center (GSC) in Mumbai were also of that opinion. The idea: to assign tree sponsorships to colleagues in the context of the GoGreen program. And this was to be taken literally, from the initial planting of the tree. To do so, young sala trees were procured, and a biologist informed the DHL volunteers about how to best care for the young trees.

Thanks to the overwhelming response from GSC colleagues at DHL Global Forwarding and Freight more than 200 seedlings were distributed in no time. The following workshop for the “tree parents” explained all the aspects that have to be taken into account in terms of location and planting. These included issues like the required amount of light, the distance to other vegetation, and the right amount of water in the first week. The distributed trees were later planted in carefully chosen areas and are now constantly looked after by the tree guardians.

“Even if this drive is rather small compared to the vast forest areas that are being lost, it is nevertheless a significant step in the right direction. Because, GSC takes GoGreen very seriously and we are constantly trying to do something for the environment”, explained Navin Mascarenhas, GSC Head of Solution Management Freight. He further adds “Once the process is managed in the GSC, we strive for a less-paper office environment. More than 90 per cent of our processes are managed paperless and digitally.”