We are delighted to confirm that, for a third season, the matchday programme has committed to offset all of the carbon produced in the production of the publication by continuing to plant trees on our Arsenal Forest site in Bore, Kenya.
We will plant another 10,000 of the quick-growing, drought and pest-resistant neem variety this season, in conjunction with our partners CarbonLink, and we are now immensely proud to say our forest now stands at – as of August 1, 2023 – 28,275 trees in total. This equates to an area the size of 17 Emirates pitches covered by the Arsenal Forest.
Because our forest is on the equator, the growing conditions are superb and many of the first trees we planted in December 2021 are now close to three metres tall!
And it’s not only the club who are planting trees – supporters have jumped at the chance to own or gift “a little bit of Arsenal in Africa”, and 6,000 of those trees have been purchased by our fans.
What we particularly love about this project is that it’s far more than just a forest. The project has employed 60 of the poorest local women, propagating the seedlings in a community nursery and now planting the trees. This allows them to pay for the education of their children and set up local businesses. There are also three permanent members of staff employed in security and the overall running of the site. We have provided kit for two local football teams, the Bore Lions and the Bore Lionesses – who asked for our help last season to set up the first women's football team in that area of Kenya. The club also now sponsor a football tournament, the Neem Cup, which features both of our teams playing against other local sides.
Buzzing in Bore
With news of the bee hives proudly standing on Arsenal ground up at the training centre, we can report that the 20 hives in our forest are also close to yielding honey – although this might be a little trickier to offer Mikel Arteta and his squad. The hives suspended from trees in the Arsenal Forest are the result of a local government/EU initiative, helping to propagate, increase biodiversity and produce honey for sale through local businesses.
Our workers pose with one of the beehives over in Kenya
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