An Inspiring Speech by Treeconomy’s Co-Founder, Rob Godfrey during One Young World 2023

A reminder of the essential value of trees and nature for our well-being, prosperity, and very existence.

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Our Co-Founder, Robert Godfrey, was in Belfast last month to attend the One Young World Summit 2023, gathering 2,200 young leaders from over 190 countries.
Rob was honoured as the winner of the Lead 2030 SDG 15 Challenge (sponsored by Novartis) in recognition of Treeconomy's efforts to scale nature restoration.
He was invited to take the Reckitt Stage on the final day of the Summit to address attendees, offering a reminder of the vital value of trees and nature for our well-being, prosperity, and existence.
Watch Rob's full speech to breathe in a great deal of inspiration, understand the 'why' behind our work at Treeconomy and get tips on persevering through challenging missions - encouragement to keep dreaming big and daring greatly.

Transcript

Hello everyone, my name’s Rob Godfrey, and I’m Co-Founder of Treeconomy.
But before I tell you anything about what I do, I need you to do something for me.
Something you’ve probably already done 15,000 times today, give or take. But now I want you to do it consciously. I want you to take a deep breath. In … out. Nice, right?
Not something we normally pay attention to. Our ability to breathe is something we take for granted. But the story of that single breath just now is incredible: it goes back more than 3 billion years to the origins of life on Earth, and speaks to the uniqueness of this planet. That’s because every molecule of oxygen you just breathed in and have ever breathed in was a product of the wonderful alchemy of photosynthesis, a result of green plant life: ferns and phytoplankton and of course, forests.
Which leads me to what I think is an interesting question: what is a tree worth?
Well, we can do and make all kinds of useful things with a tree: we might chop it down for timber, grind it up for pulp and paper, burn it for fuel to cook food or heat homes. Or maybe we’ll clear it to make way for farmland. And we’ve been doing those things for most of human history. Regarding trees as resource, material, or obstacle.
There used to be around 6 trillion trees on Earth, now there are 3 trillion and we still cut around 15 billion of those every year. More than 50 football fields of forest have been lost just in the time I’ve been speaking.
But remember the breath? Where it came from? Clearly, trees are worth more to us than timber or fuel.
They produce oxygen, yes, but they also remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, reduce flooding, improve water quality, and curb erosion. Forests harbour 80% of all biodiversity on land and protecting and restoring them is one of our greatest tools in addressing climate change.
And so that leads us to another question: what would the world look like if we really valued trees and forests, for all that they are and all that they do?
Well, it would be greener for a start. And I believe it would be happier, healthier, more resilient, and more just. And in this moment of linked crises– climate change, biodiversity loss, poverty– it’s that greener and greater world I’m striving for, a tree at a time.
In 2019 I co-founded Treeconomy with a mission to restore Earth’s green ecosystems to address climate change, promote biodiversity, and improve rural livelihoods, a true win-win-win.
And ever since, we’ve been doing this by using technology, including satellite sensing and AI, to more fully measure the true value of a tree, including things like carbon sequestration and ensuring a tree left standing – or indeed a tree planted -- is worth more than one chopped down.
We want to create economies that are regenerative, not exploitative. That recognise and value nature as absolutely fundamental to our well-being, our prosperity, our very existence.
We now work proudly with a global group of rural landowners, that collectively hold and manage more than 1.5 million hectares for reforestation and ecosystem restoration. That’s an area larger than Northern Ireland, spread across 12 countries and 4 continents.
But we’re really just getting started.
It’s a big mission, a daunting mission, but a vital mission, the sort that everyone in this room, at this summit is working on in one way or another.
There’s a few things I can offer from my journey so far:
The first is to think in systems. Spend time with the problem, understand causality, connectivity, trade-offs. Address root causes rather than symptoms to find those win-wins for enduring and outsized impact.
Think long term but act short term. Long-dated commitments are cheap, action is priceless, urgency is imperative. So move, try, fail, learn, and keep moving.
Hold onto your idealism and your hope -- nurture it fiercely. Dream big and dare greatly– someone has to.
And of course, as you forge ahead with your mission, remember to take a deep breath now and again.
So with that: in … out. Thank you.