As part of the club’s sustainability drive, the matchday programme is creating ‘The Arsenal Forest’.
The publication has teamed up with CarbonLink – a not-for-profit reforestation organisation that specialises in helping communities in Kenya through consumption replacement tree-planting.
CarbonLink have estimated that to offset the carbon consumption of the matchday programme, 12,500 trees – each absorbing 20 KGs of CO2 over the next 10 years – need to be planted. We have committed to plant these trees, using the budgetary saving made by changing the Premier League programmes from ‘perfect bound’ (square backed) to ‘saddle-stitched’ (staples) – the format of the matchday programme for the vast majority of its 120+ year existence.
The ‘Arsenal Forest’ will be planted across 12.5 acres – the equivalent of 21.3 Emirates football pitches – in Boré in the Coast Province of Kenya, where CarbonLink work extensively. Not only will the tree-planting ultimately absorb CO2, the planting process will also greatly help the local community, with 60 of the poorest local women employed to propagate the seedlings in a community nursery.
The Bore project map
The trees, which are the drought-resistant ‘Neem’ variety, will also provide farmers with a cash crop of timber with which to buy food, pay for school fees and other living expenses – this is crucial as the fast-changing climate in East Africa is bringing more floods and droughts and affects farmers’ ability to grow food crops.
The trees will also hugely help the tropical forest wildlife of the region, supporting hundreds of other species in what is one of the most biodiverse ecosystems on the planet.
Some of 60 women that we employ to propagate the seedlings in the community nursery
GROW YOUR OWN!
CarbonLink have ensured that our 12.5 acre Arsenal Forest is in an area that can expand in the future. This means fans can also get involved with the project. Trees are available to purchase in three different denominations.
25 – £25
50 – £50
100 – £100
Fans can therefore own a tiny piece of Arsenal over in Kenya and help to expand the Arsenal Forest so greater swathes of the region carry the Gunners’ name – as well as helping the environment. If you are concerned with your own carbon footprint, this is an excellent way of making a small, sustainable step in the right direction and also doing it in the name of the club you love. And what an excellent gift for an Arsenal fan in your life!
Go to www.carbonlink.org/the-arsenal-forest-in-africa for more information and details of how to be part of our forest.
Copyright 2024 The Arsenal Football Club Limited. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to www.arsenal.com as the source.
