The Samoa Conservation Society held an open-day at the O Le Pupu-Pue National Park on Saturday where they had planted over 200 trees as part of a carbon offset project.

The event was attended by members of the society as well as those looking to join a tour of the National Park for the first time.

The carbon offset project is funded by the U.S. Government's Pacific Islands Forest Restoration Initiative which unites the work of the S.C.S in partnership with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment's Forestry Division and the Poutasi Development Trust, and aims to plant 10,000 trees in the national park.

In a telephone interview with the Samoa Observer on Monday, the Project Coordinator and S.C.S Board Member, Faleafaga Toni Tipamaa, said they decided to have an event linked to the project.

Saturday's gathering had three main elements, including the tree planting, a visit the coastal walk, and offering attendees the opportunity to understand the carbon offset project and its importance to the environemtn. 

Faleafaga said the idea is to explain to people the number of trees you plant, for example, nine trees will offset your carbon travelling from Apia to Togitogiga.

"So that means it helps people understand why it's very important that we should plant trees," he said.

Faleafaga said the event is a good learning experience for those who had attended as 90 per cent of those who were present on that day had never been to the coastal walk.

The goal of the project, that was launched early this year, is to restore four hectares of damaged areas in the O Le Pupu-Pue National Park and to restore biodiversity and improve resilience posed by threats such as climate change.

By May this year close to 5,000 trees had been planted. At that time there were 1510 trees planted in one area, 1500 in the second and 1550 in the third which added up to 4560 trees and is nearly half of the total that the project aims to achieve.

The event hosted by the S.C.S on Saturday added 210 trees to the total number and comprise six different native species.

Faleafaga said the project encourages people to plant more trees and he hopes to have similar projects in the future.

Since 2016 more than 15,000 trees have been planted in the national park with the help of villages such as Poutasi, Salailua and Saaga.