Reforesting the Yucatán: Plant a Tree for €1.50

Restoring forests does not have to be abstract, expensive, or distant. On the Yucatán Peninsula in southern Mexico, tree planting starts at just €1.50 per tree—and the impact is tangible. The region faces one of the highest deforestation rates in the country. Vast areas of medium semi-evergreen forest and seasonally flooded lowland forest have been cleared over recent decades, largely due to cattle ranching and forestry exploitation. What remains is a fragmented landscape, vulnerable to biodiversity loss, soil degradation, and climate stress.

In 2015, a long-term effort began to reverse this damage by restoring forest ecosystems on abandoned agricultural land. Today, a dedicated local team at Plant-for-the-Planet A.C. is scaling this work with remarkable efficiency—planting up to 28,000 trees in a single day. The project focuses on ecological precision rather than monoculture: up to 51 native tree species are planted, carefully selected and matched to specific sites based on soil composition and hydrological conditions. Most restoration takes place on large abandoned farms and former cattle ranches bordering the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve, one of Mesoamerica’s most important remaining rainforest areas.

Reforestation here is not only about trees—it is about people and long-term resilience. The project collaborates closely with local farmers, regional authorities such as the Ministry of Environment, Biodiversity, Climate Change, and Energy of the state of Campeche, and public initiatives like Production for Wellbeing in Campeche, Yucatán, and Quintana Roo. Together, these partnerships aim to unite conservation with sustainable land use. Trees planted through these collaborations increase canopy cover across agricultural landscapes while supporting livelihoods in apiculture and silvopasture. It is a model where restoring nature and strengthening local economies go hand in hand.

For more details on this project, visit Plant-for-the-Planet.