Wikipedia
WikiWoods is a group of volunteers who plant trees with the joint aims of preventing climate change and inspiring people to be environmentally aware. Founded in 2007, around 1,200 volunteers have so far been involved to plant more than 65,000 trees. The group are based around a wiki, which enables people to register their own tree planting events, to find like-minded friends in their region and to network with foresters and other tree experts. Up till now, events have taken place in Berlin, Brandenburg, Goettingen and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania in Germany as well as in Hîrbovăţ in Moldova but it is hoped that the idea will spread, with further volunteers getting involved to organise tree planting events.
WikiWoods plants according to a set of sustainability guidelines that were specially developed for the group. The events that have been carried out so far include afforestation, the conversion of monoculture coniferous forests into mixed woodland, planting of hedges and forest edges as well as the planting, harvesting and pruning of fruit trees.
WikiWoods have been awarded several prizes including the Umweltpreis Mensch und Natur 2008 from ZDF and the Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt. In April 2011 WikiWoods was awarded the Theodor Heuss Prize in Stuttgart. The prize is awarded for exemplary democratic disposition and the focus in 2011 was on the environment.
WikiWoods reacted to the devastating sandstorm on 9 April 2011 in the German Federal State of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania through planting wind protection hedges. These newly planted hedges help to alleviate the problems of soil erosion in the Federal State.
2010 saw WikiWoods campaigning against the controversial carbon capture and storage (CCS) pilot projects planned in Brandenburger Beeskow, Neutrebbin and Letschin. The "Baeume statt CO2-Lager" (Trees instead of CO2 store) campaign was attended by politicians including Dagmar Enkelmann (DIE LINKE) und Hans-Georg von der Marwitz (CDU/CSU).
In 2009, WikiWoods started a new area of activity: planting fruit trees. In May 2009, the Mayor of the Berlin district of Kreuzberg, Bürgermeister Franz Schulz and Member of the German Parliament Christian Ströbele assisted WikiWoods to plant 10 fruit trees at Yaam am Ostbahnhof, Berlin.