3. Taking public transport, making payments online or just walking around — these daily activities can help turn China's deserts into forests if you are using Ant Forest.
Ant Forest is a feature (特色) in the Alipay mobile payment app. Users start by planting a virtual (虚拟的) tree in Ant Forest. Then it gives users "green energy" if they do low-carbon (低碳的) activities such as taking a bus to work instead of driving. When a user's green energy gets high enough, Ant Forest and its partners will plant a real tree for that person.
Ant Forest received the 2019 Champions of the Earth award (地球卫士奖), the UN's highest environmental honor, for encouraging people to live greener lifestyles and protect the environment. The United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) announced in Nairobi, Kenya, on September 19, 2019. The award also went to another two Chinese organizations. In 2018, the Zhejiang Green Rural Revival Program won the award for its work to deal with polluted waterways and damaged (被损坏的) lands. In 2017, the Saihanba Afforestation Community got the same award for turning barren sand into green hills.
Since its launch (推出) in August 2016, Ant Forest and its partners have planted some 122 million trees in China's driest areas, which include areas in Inner Mongolia, Gansu, Qinghai and Shanxi. The trees cover an area of 11.2 million square kilometers. Ant Forest has become China's largest private sector (私营企业) tree-planting project.
"Alipay Ant Forest shows how technology can change our world by using the positive energy and new ideas of users around the world," said Inger Andersen, executive director (执行理事) of UNEP.