Wikiwoods

WikiWoods
founding	2007
Seat	Berlin
main emphasis	Environmental protection , nature conservation , trees
method	Voluntary action
Action space	Global
Volunteers	1,200
Website	www.wikiwoods.org

With the founding of the environmental initiative WikiWoods in Berlin in 2007, the internet platform WikiWoods.org was put online with the aim of organizing worldwide tree planting via the internet, which volunteers do locally. Since then, WikiWoods has planted more than 84,000 trees with around 2,300 volunteers (as of September 2013). WikiWoods is a supporter of the Climate Alliance Germany and co-founder of the alliance "Fruit trees instead of CO2 repositories". Wikiwoods is a purely voluntary initiative. It is supported by the sponsoring organization Active Commons eV, which provides funds for planting projects and the operation of the Internet platform.

organization

Volunteers, experts and donors can network on the initiative's open platform. In the sense of an open content , empirical knowledge from tree planting that has already been carried out is made available for public use and participation. Co-planters register by stating their postcode and can thus organize themselves in regional project groups. The specialty of WikiWoods is that volunteers are brought together via the Internet in order to B. to become active through tree planting campaigns. In addition to the long-term goal of climate protection , WikiWoods also sees itself as an offer for environmental education . With the plantings, which usually take place one day or over a weekend, the participants learn not only the practical planting instructions but also background knowledge about their forest.

In order to ensure the sustainable protection of the trees that have been planted, Wikiwoods works with partners on the plantings, who provide the areas and ensure the aftercare of the new trees. Previous partner organizations were, for example, the WWF , the BUND , the NABU Foundation for National Natural Heritage and the Lower Oder Valley National Park . In 2011 some WikiWoods projects were funded by the Youth in Action program of the European Union.

Project examples from Wikiwoods

So far, actions have taken place in Berlin , Brandenburg , Göttingen , Saarland and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania . There was also an action in Hîrbovăţ, Republic of Moldova , where a total of 11 walnut trees were planted. On Saturday, April 14, 2012, 1,300 mangrove propagules were planted on the island of Jawa in Indonesia , tied to bamboo sticks to stabilize them against sea waves. The actions are selected according to a sustainability guideline. The actions that have taken place have, the conversion of softwood - monocultures in mixed deciduous forests , initial plantings and fruit tree planting and care to the goal. WikiWoods has planted windbreak hedges to counter storms.

In 2010 WikiWoods campaigned against the CSS projects in Brandenburger Beeskow, Neutrebbin and Letschin. The politicians Dagmar Enkelmann ( Die Linke ) and Hans-Georg von der Marwitz ( CDU / CSU ) took part in the "Trees instead of CO2 camps" campaign.

In 2008 the initiative started planting fruit trees together with the WWF. In May 2009, Mayor Franz Schulz (Kreuzberg, Berlin) and Bundestag member Christian Ströbele showed support to WikiWoods with the planting of 10 fruit trees in Yaam am Ostbahnhof, Berlin.

Awards

The association has been awarded several prizes. On November 27, 2007 WikiWoods was honored with the jury prize in the Mission sustainability competition of the German government's Council for Sustainable Development . The ZDF and the German Federal Environmental Foundation handed over on 7 November 2008 Environmental Award "Man and Nature" (Muna).

In April 2011, the association was awarded the Theodor Heuss Medal in Stuttgart for volunteering in nature conservation under the annual theme “Energy, Environment - Responsibility to the World”. The internet platform won in the "Idea and Innovation" category.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Julia Finger: Green thumbs wanted. In: Jetzt.de. August 7, 2008, accessed April 4, 2012 . 
2. ↑ klima-allianz germany: supporters of the climate alliance. April 3, 2008, accessed April 12, 2012 . 
3. ↑ Breaux, Peter: Online Communities and Environmental Action, A SWOT Analysis of Two Online Platforms (Master's thesis, University for Sustainable Development Eberswalde (FH), 2011)
4. ↑ WikiWoods: Mangrove Planting. In: WikiWoods. April 12, 2012, Retrieved April 13, 2012 . 
5. ↑ dadp: State concept for the protection of field trees required. In: ad-hoc-news.de. April 13, 2011, accessed April 4, 2012 . 
6. ↑ Märkische Oderzeitung: Trees instead of CO2 storage "starts March 23, 2010
7. ↑ Mitteldeutsche Zeitung: Work on the world's largest forest December 14, 2008
8. ↑ Tagesspiegel: Celebrations for the fruit tree. May 15, 2009
9. ↑ DBU muna - Mensch und Natur ( Memento of the original from September 23, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , November 11, 2008, as well as broadcast on ZDF.umwelt (November 9, 2008) 
10. ↑ Birgitta Reinhardt: Heuss Prize with an environmental focus. (No longer available online.) In: Sustainability.org. April 11, 2011, archived from the original on October 22, 2012 ; Retrieved April 4, 2012 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.