51 trees planted in celebration of a birthday!

In 2015 and in celebration of her 40th birthday, Carmo Diniz invited her friends to plant trees with her. This year, she met the Global Tree Initiative through our project specialist Kika Gusmão. Carmo learned about the opportunity to dedicate these trees, and made the dedications accordingly!

Carmo owns a nice piece of land in Gloria, a small Portugese town situated in Alentejo. This part of the country is becoming increasingly arid due to years of unsustainable exploitation combined with a changing climate.

For Carmo’s birthday, she and her friends came together, and planted oak, chestnut, and almond trees, along with some other species. These trees are resistance to the dry conditions experienced in this part of the country.

Carmo is determined to reforest her humble piece of Portuguese land, and she dedicates all her efforts to the success of JMJ Lisboa 2023.

Carmo is also a member of the organizing committee behind the next edition of World Youth Day (WYD), happening in Lisbon, Portugal, in August 2023.

A valuable lesson Carmo has learnt while organizing this big event is that “we need to plant trees”. “Anyone can plant a tree, just do it”, she says.

Her mission within the committee is among others, to ensure sustainability is a cornerstone in the event. She is also dedicated to making sure people with disabilities have complete access to every activity happening during the WYD event.

Carmo and Kika are working together to promote tree-planting actions all over the world, as part of a Global Tree Planting Challenge, a partnership between JMJ Lisboa 2023 and the Global Tree Initiative.

To date, over 600 trees were planted and dedicated in collaboration with JMJ Lisboa 2023.

Thank you, Carmo, for both dedicating these trees, and for the important work you are doing at the WYD.