On September 1, 2024, AIC launched an international tree planting campaign, inviting each of its 56 member associations to participate. The aim was to plant at least one tree per country, in order to help protect our planet and improve the quality of life of present and future generations. The start date of the campaign was chosen to coincide with the start of the “Season of Creation”, a celebration initiated by Pope Francis in 2019, calling on Christians around the world to unite, from 1st September to 4th October each year, to care for the Earth, our “Common Home.”

Many volunteer groups joined the AIC tree planting campaign, choosing the right time for planting in their region and trees adapted to the local climate. Plantings led to partnerships with residents, local authorities, schools, a company, and other branches of the Vincentian Family such as the Daughters of Charity. In total, 20 AIC groups from 15 countries and on four continents took part in the campaign. A look back at a year of tree planting, in pictures:

In India, AIC volunteers decided to plant banana and papaya trees in vegetable gardens in Kerala and in Bangalore, where they are already growing beans, ivy gourd and snake gourd. The plantings have several objectives: trees will absorb CO₂ and provide shade for the vegetable garden. The vegetables will help to increase the consumption of local and seasonal food and to reduce CO₂ emissions linked to food transport.

In Indonesia and Japan, the planting campaign gave rise to partnerships with the Daughters of Charity. In Wakayama, Japan, volunteers planted a persimmon tree in the garden of the Daughters of Charity in June 2025. Volunteers in Surabaya, Indonesia, were also able to use a garden belonging to the Daughters of Charity in their city, in which they planted 75 fruit trees (oranges, avocados, durians and papayas) in November 2024. Since then, local residents have been helping them to care for the trees. The harvest will be used, among others, to make a herbal drink sold at the local market.

In Vietnam, volunteers in Buôn Ma Thuột have included trees in their new traditional herbal garden, which they began to set up in March 2025. The aim of the project is to support healthcare in the community and to raise awareness among vulnerable and/or elderly people about how they can protect nature and use medicinal plants in everyday life (lemongrass, ginger, turmeric, basil, centella asiatica, crinum latifolium, etc.). The trees will complement the garden by producing fruit and providing shade.

In Laos, volunteers decided to make the most of the garden of a volunteer in Vientiane, by planting ten fruit trees there (banana, mango, custard apple and papaya) in August 2025. The volunteer and her husband will take care of the trees, and the rest of the group plans to visit them regularly to follow the growth of the plantations.

To mark the occasion of its 75th anniversary, celebrated in June 2025, AIC Philippines invited all its local groups to plant fruit trees between 1st September 2024 and 1st September 2025. Groups in Naga City and Quezon Province responded to this call by planting coconut, rambutan, lemon, mango, avocado, durian and papaya trees, as well as vegetables.

In Brazil, the “Half a Million Trees for Curitiba” programme aims to plant 500,000 trees in this city over the next four years, in order to combat global warming. As part of the programme, AIC volunteers from the Santa Luisa group and their beneficiaries planted trees on the banks of the Beléma River in August 2025. The native species used, such as the Paraná pine, will help to prevent erosion of the riverbank during heavy rains. To learn more about the programme (in Portuguese).

AIC Costa Rica has a centre in San José that specialises in supporting children and young people with homework and school projects, with the aim of preventing them from dropping out of school. The centre does not have enough space to plant trees, but the campaign has inspired volunteers to raise awareness among children and young people about environmental and social issues and to entrust them with planting and taking care of the centre’s other plants.

In Panama, the planting campaign inspired volunteers to plant fruit trees, as well as vegetables and flowers (wild tamarind, inga spectabilis beans and Queen Elizabeth irises) at the homes of volunteers and donors who had land available. In El Salvador, ten volunteers and ten students planted around fifteen seedlings of almond, lemon and other fruit and ornamental trees.

Volunteers in Mexico have been particularly active in the campaign.

• In Durango, volunteers planted fruit trees and vegetables at the Anawim Vincentian Centre and the Sagrado Corazón de Jesús Centre with children. They showed them how to care for the plants, explained the properties of plants, natural fertilisers and insecticides, and taught the children how to make compost.
• AIC volunteers in Tuxpam also saw the plantings as an opportunity to teach young people new skills. They planted 80 trees (golden rain trees, cedars, rosewoods, flamboyants, and pomegranates) in two schools starting in November 2024. The young people and their teachers are responsible for watering the plants and fertilising the soil. The volunteers also planted six palm trees and two lychee trees in the garden of their St Vincent de Paul Centre and are closely monitoring their growth.
• In the city of Querétaro, volunteers planted jacaranda trees in public parks, as well as fruit trees such as avocado, mango and guava trees.
• Volunteers from the Vincentian Centre in Teziutlan teamed up with a local textile company. Seeking to reduce its environmental impact, the company has created a tree nursery that reuses plastic packaging for planting seedlings. AIC volunteers have helped collect packaging material for the nursery, and in return, they were invited to its inauguration in July 2025 and received a donation of 10 patula pine seedlings. Volunteers decided to distribute the seedlings to interested participants of their weaving workshop.
• In Boca del Rio-Veracruz, volunteers plan to plant avocado trees and oregano in their Vincentian Centre, which is currently undergoing renovation. The avocado trees will produce fruit and make the space more pleasant by providing shade. The oregano can be shared with children attending classes at the centre, and volunteers also want to teach them how to care for plants.

In Madagascar, as part of the celebration of International Women’s Day on 8th and 12th March 2025, eight volunteers from the city of Manakara, along with around a hundred mothers who are project beneficiaries, planted nearly 600 trees. They received eucalyptus and coffee seedlings from the Ministry of the Environment, and each participant also brought fruit trees.

In Yaoundé, Cameroon, around fifteen AIC volunteers, along with agricultural engineers and technicians, created a fruit tree nursery in 2022 (with avocado, plum, orange and mandarin trees), with the aim of improving the living conditions of vulnerable elderly people, people living in poverty and/or with disabilities. To date, volunteers continue to maintain the nursery.

Planting trees has many benefits in a big city such as London, such as improving air quality, but finding a suitable location can be a challenge. Fortunately, volunteers from AIC UK got to use the garden of the Provincial House of the Daughters of Charity to plant a strawberry tree, which they will be able to watch grow during their visits to the centre for meetings and retreats.

In Santander, Spain, the planting initiative gave volunteers the opportunity to create a partnership with Santander City Council, which enabled them to plant six hazel trees in a public park in October 2024 with the help of beneficiaries of the “Low-cost cooking” project of the Daughters of Charity (see video in Spanish). Volunteers from the Nuestra Señora de Altagracia group in Manzanares-Ciudad Real also took part in the campaign by planting an orange tree on their land.

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Other AIC volunteers have also announced that they have started or are planning actions to join the campaign, and we can’t wait to hear from them. We hope that all of these initiatives will inspire many other volunteers in the AIC network to plant trees or to set up other initiatives fostering sustainable development, so that all AIC members can take concrete steps to better care for the Earth, our Common Home.