Timberland has recently marked the planting of two million trees...

Timberland has recently marked the planting of two million trees in the Horqin Desert, in Northern China, a new milestone in its ongoing program to tackle desertification in Inner Mongolia. The initiative was launched in 2001 after one employee suggested that Timberland play a role in reforesting the Horqin Desert, whose desertification had an impact on his native Japan. As a result, Timberland formed a partnership with Green Network, a Japan-based non-profit organization, to help tackle the problem. To date the outdoor company has contributed more than 120 million Japanese Yens (€0.88m-$0.99m) and 291 days of employee time to support this reforestation project. The Horqin Desert was grasslands until the 1960s. Climate change and the over-grazing of the land have rapidly led to the deforestation of the area, resulting in the creation of a desert which is around the size of Switzerland. This exposed land, in combination with local meteorological factors, has contributed to a rising number of sandstorms that affect not only the local environment but northern China as a whole as well as parts of Japan, South Korea and Taiwan.