The Samoa Conservation Society (S.C.S.) and their community partners, with the support of MNRE Forestry Division, have planted over 30,000 trees at O le Pupu Pue National Park since 2016.

Their restoration work of planting trees to remove invasive species in the National Park also links to carbon offsets.

These efforts go into making sure Samoa’s natural environment is able to grow healthy and well.

The President of S.C.S., James Atherton said the role of tree planting and carbon offsetting is a source of income for the villages and community.

S.C.S. is the first organisation in Samoa to promote this concept.

“Companies that commit to carbon offsets do more to reduce their carbon footprint. We can do a lot of stuff here, we can restores our own forests, we can plant trees, offset our carbons,” he said,

“Almost all of us have a carbon footprint from our everyday activity. If we do our own part in reducing how much resources we use then we are already contributing to making Samoa much greener.” 

A carbon footprint is the total amount of greenhouse gases (including carbon dioxide and methane) that are generated by an individual’s everyday actions. 

He gave a rough calculation on how much carbon has been offset with the number of trees they have planted since 2016.

“We can assume about 22kg of carbon dioxide is taken out of the air by each tree per year varying depending on the age of the trees. We can calculate the carbon by how many trees that we plant so far,” said Mr. Atherton.

This brings about a total of 660,000kg of carbon dioxide per year from the trees they have planted so far alone.

They have been in touch with a few local businesses and individuals who are interested in offsetting their carbon footprint.

They carry out carbon audits in calculating the carbon footprint before they calculate a target of how much trees can be planted to offset them.

“It has been seven years now and we will keep on going. Planting trees helps absorb tones of greenhouse gases in our forestry,” he said.

“Our message is that everyone is responsible to look after our island, everyone has something to do. Lots can be done in changing a few behaviors which can make a difference.”