Tops Days Nurseries pledge to plant thousands of trees in Madagascar to help climate crisis

Tops Days Nurseries, which has branches at Lakeside, Copnor, Southsea and Havant, are teaming up with Ecologi to plant one tree for every child that enrols at one of their centres.

The early years provider has more than 30 nurseries across the south and south west.

On Thursday, July 28, nurseries celebrated National Tree Day by partnering up with the climate action organisation which helps projects around the world to offset carbon emissions and plant trees.

Staff planned a variety of activities to help teach their children about climate change and how important it is to protect and plant more trees to help end the climate crisis.

The nursery chain also pledge to plant a tree for all their current colleagues and for every new colleague that joins the business.

Currently there are almost 800 colleagues working for Tops Day Nurseries who will all join together in their own wood of trees.

These trees will be planted in Madagascar, an island country in the Indian Ocean.

The country is considered a biodiversity hotspot, and ‘more than 90 per cent of its wildlife is found nowhere else on Earth’.

In recent years, vast areas of Madagascar’s original forests have been destroyed, displacing entire animal species and diminishing local people’s ability to farm and live on the land.

Managing director, Cheryl Hadland, said: ‘We are always looking for new ways to save the planet and influence the future generation to do the same. Engaging with Ecologi is a great opportunity to give back to the children, families and employees who are part of our Tops family and to continue our mission of an environmentally sustainable and socially responsible world for all.’

Ecologi started supporting the Madagascar project in 2021.

The community have so far funded the planting of over 8.8m trees - with the potential of planting 38m trees.

Tops were recently awarded a Queen’s Award for Enterprise in Sustainable Development, a prestigious award that has recognised Tops for their excellence in helping the environment.