2nd LD: China's Ant Forest receives top UN environmental honor for tree-planting initiative

0 Comment(s)Print E-mail Xinhua, September 27, 2019
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NEW YORK, Sept. 26 (Xinhua) -- Ant Forest, a green initiative in China, on Thursday received a 2019 "Champions of the Earth" award, the United Nations' highest environmental honor.

Ant Forest won the "Inspiration and Action" category of the award given by the UN Environment Program (UNEP) for turning the green good deeds of half a billion people into real trees planted in some of China's most arid regions.

Xu Di, general manager of the Ant Forest initiative, and Shen Junliang, a representative app user, received the award.

Launched by Ant Financial Services Group, an Alibaba affiliate, Ant Forest promotes greener lifestyles by inspiring users to reduce carbon emissions in their daily lives so as to better protect the environment.

Ant Forest users are encouraged to record their low-carbon footprint through daily actions like taking public transport or paying utility bills online. For each action, they receive "green energy points" and when they accumulate a certain number of points, an actual tree is planted. Users can view images of their trees in real-time via satellite.

"It's very innovative. It's big. It is managed to mobilize millions of people to get an understanding of the environment and what they can do by contributing a small amount of resources," UNEP Executive Director Inger Andersen, who gave out the awards, told Xinhua. "So having people engage in a personal way is very powerful." Enditem

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