Business, charity foundation partner to tackle deforestation

Trees planted by the Ant Forest scheme in a desert area. [Photo from the internet]

Ant Forest, a tree planting scheme initiated by China Green Foundation in partnership with Ant Financial Services Group, the financial arm of Alibaba, has planted a total of 16.76 million trees in Ordos, according to a recent report by a local media organization. 

The green scheme is designed to tackle deforestation in the area and now covers 126,800 mu (8,453 hectares) of local land, with only drought-resistant types of tree planted, including the saxoul, salix mongolica and pinus sylvestris. 

At the 13th Session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, Ant Financial Services Group provided funds to China Green Foundation to launch a collaborative tree planting program, benefiting desert areas situated in several selected cities in Inner Mongolia autonomous region and Gansu province. 

Ant Forest (Chinese: 蚂蚁森林) is a scheme launched on the Alipay mobile app by Ant Financial Services Group in August 2016. Combining the internet, finance and a low-carbon lifestyle, it is a personal carbon account as well as a public benefit activity. Users earn points for every step they take, for each time they use public transport, and for paying utility bills and other types of activity using their Alipay account. 

Users’ points can then be used to help plant and nurture a tree in a virtual forest on their cellphone; once the tree is large enough it can be converted into a real tree, which will then be planted in one of the forests by China Green Foundation.