Algeria Algeria celebrates Arbor Day on October 25. They teach children about trees and host tree planting events. In 2025, they launched a campaign to plant one million trees.
Australia Arbor Day has been observed in Australia since the first event took place in Adelaide, South Australia on the 20th June 1889.
Planet Ark's National Schools Tree Day is held on the last Friday of July for schools and National Tree Day the last Sunday in July throughout Australia. Many states have Arbour Day, although
Victoria has an Arbour Week, which was suggested by
Premier Rupert (Dick) Hamer in the 1980s.
Belgium International Day of Tree Planting is celebrated in
Flanders on or around 21 March as a theme-day/educational-day/observance, not as a public holiday. Tree planting is sometimes combined with awareness campaigns of the fight against cancer under the name
Kom Op Tegen Kanker.
Brazil The Arbor Day (Dia da Árvore) is celebrated on September 21. It is not a national holiday. However, schools nationwide celebrate this day with environment-related activities, namely tree planting.
British Virgin Islands Arbour Day is celebrated on November 22. It is sponsored by the National Parks Trust of the Virgin Islands. They have celebrated the holiday since the 1950s. Activities include an annual national Arbour Day Poetry Competition and tree planting ceremonies throughout the territory.
Cambodia Cambodia celebrates Arbor Day on July 9 with a tree planting ceremony attended by the king.
Canada The day was founded by Sir
George William Ross, later the premier of Ontario, when he was minister of education in Ontario (1883–1899). According to the Ontario Teachers' Manuals "History of Education" (1915), Ross established both Arbour Day and Empire Day—"the former to give the school children an interest in making and keeping the school grounds attractive, and the latter to inspire the children with a spirit of patriotism" (p. 222). This predates the claimed founding of the day by Don Clark of Schomberg, Ontario for his wife Margret Clark in 1906. In Canada,
National Forest Week is the last full week of September, and National Tree Day (Maple Leaf Day) falls on the Wednesday of that week.
Ontario celebrates Arbour Week from the last Friday in April to the first Sunday in May.
Prince Edward Island celebrates Arbour Day on the third Friday in May during Arbour Week. Arbour Day is the longest running civic greening project in Calgary and is celebrated on the first Thursday in May. On this day, each grade 1 student in Calgary's schools receives a tree seedling to be taken home to be planted on private property.
Central African Republic National Tree Planting Day is on July 22.
Chile "Dia del Arbol" was celebrated on June 28, 2022, as defined by Chile's Environment Ministry
Greater China Republic of China (Taiwan) Arbor Day (植樹節) was founded by the forester
Ling Daoyang in 1915 and has been a traditional
holiday in the Republic of China since 1916. The
Beiyang government's Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce first commemorated Arbor Day in 1915 at the suggestion of forester
Ling Daoyang. In 1916, the government announced that all provinces of the
Republic of China would celebrate the on the same day as the
Qingming Festival, April 5, despite the differences in climate across China, which is on the first day of the fifth solar term of the traditional Chinese
lunisolar calendar. From 1929, by decree of the
Nationalist government, Arbor Day was , to commemorate the death of
Sun Yat-sen, who had been a major advocate of afforestation in his life. Following the
retreat of the
government of the Republic of China to Taiwan in 1949, the celebration of Arbor Day on March 12 was retained.
People's Republic of China In People's Republic of China, during the fourth session of the Fifth
National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China in 1979 adopted the Resolution on the Unfolding of a Nationwide Voluntary Tree-planting Campaign. This resolution established the Arbor Day (植树节), also March 12, and stipulated that every able-bodied citizen between the ages of 11 and 60 should plant three to five trees per year or do the equivalent amount of work in seedling, cultivation, tree tending, or other services. Supporting documentation instructs all units to report population statistics to the local afforestation committees for workload allocation. Many couples choose to marry the day before the annual celebration, and they plant the tree to mark beginning of their life together and the new life of the tree.
Republic of Congo National Tree Planting Day is on November 6.
Costa Rica "Día del Árbol" is on June 15.
Colombia "Día de los Árboles" (Day of Trees) is on April 29.
Cuba "Dia del Árbol" (Day of the Tree) was first observed on October 10, 1904, and today is officially observed on June 21 of each year.
Czechia Arbor Day in the Czech Republic is celebrated on October 20.
Egypt Arbor Day is on January 15.
Germany Arbor Day ("Tag des Baumes") is on April 25.
Israel The Jewish holiday
Tu Bishvat, the new year for trees, is on the 15th day of the month of
Shvat, which usually falls in January or February. Originally based on the date used to calculate the age of fruit trees for
tithing as mandated in
Leviticus 19:23–25, the holiday now is most often observed by planting trees or raising money to plant trees, and by eating
dried fruits, specifically
Raisins,
figs, dates and
nuts. Often, people plant palm trees and coconut trees along the Indian Ocean that borders the east coast of Kenya. They plant trees to remember Prof. Wangari Maathai, who won a Nobel Peace Prize for planting of trees and caring for them all over Kenya. With the Kenyan government launching a campaign to plant 15 billion trees by 2032, they launched
National Tree Growing Day with very aggressive targets for the number of trees to be planted. The first national public holiday was November 13, 2023. The second was May 10, 2024, with a goal to plant one billion trees in a single day.
Korea North Korea marks "Tree Planting Day" on March 2, when people across the country plant trees. This day is considered to combine traditional Asian cultural values with the country's dominant Communist ideology. In
South Korea, April 5,
Singmogil or Sikmogil (식목일), the Arbor Day, was a
public holiday until 2005. Even though Singmogil is no longer an official holiday, the day is still celebrated, with the South Korean public continuing to take part in tree-planting activities.
Lesotho National Tree Planting Day is usually on March 21 depending on the lunar cycle.
Malawi National Tree Planting Day is on the 2nd Monday of December.
Mongolia National Tree Planting Day is on the 2nd Saturday of May and October. The first National Tree Planting Day was celebrated May 8, 2010.
Namibia Namibia's first Arbor Day was celebrated on October 8, 2004. In 2007, the 50th anniversary was celebrated with special golden jubilee activities.
New Zealand New Zealand's first Arbor Day planting was on 3 July 1890 at
Greytown, in the
Wairarapa, The first official celebration was scheduled to take place in
Wellington in August 1892, with the planting of
pohutukawa and
Norfolk pines along Thorndon Esplanade. Prominent New Zealand botanist Dr
Leonard Cockayne worked extensively on native plants throughout New Zealand and wrote many notable botanical texts. As early as the 1920s, he held a vision for school students of New Zealand to be involved in planting native trees and plants in their school grounds. This vision bore fruit and schools in New Zealand have long planted native trees on Arbor Day. Since 1977, New Zealand has celebrated Arbor Day on 5 June, which is also
World Environment Day. Prior to then, Arbor Day was celebrated on 4 August, which is rather late in the year for tree planting in New Zealand, hence the date change. Many of the
Department of Conservation's Arbor Day activities focus on
ecological restoration projects using native plants to restore habitats that have been damaged or destroyed by humans or invasive pests and weeds. There are great restoration projects underway around New Zealand and many organisations including community groups, landowners, conservation organisations,
iwi, volunteers, schools, local businesses, nurseries and councils are involved in them. These projects are part of a vision to protect and restore the indigenous biodiversity.
Niger Since 1975,
Niger has celebrated Arbor Day as part of its
Independence Day: 3 August. On this day, aiding the fight against
desertification, each Nigerien plants a tree.
North Macedonia Having in mind the bad condition of the forest fund, and in particular the catastrophic
wildfires which occurred in the summer of 2007, a citizens' initiative for afforestation was started in
North Macedonia. The campaign by the name 'Tree Day-Plant Your Future' was first organized on 12 March 2008, when an official non-working day was declared and more than 150,000 Macedonians planted 2 million trees in one day (symbolically, one for each citizen). Six million more were planted in November the same year, and another 12,5 million trees in 2009. This has been established as a tradition and takes place every year.
Pakistan National tree plantation day of Pakistan (قومی شجر کاری دن) is celebrated on 18 August.
Philippines Since 1947, Arbor Day in the Philippines has been institutionalized to be observed throughout the nation by planting trees and ornamental plants and other forms of relevant activities. Its practice was instituted through Proclamation No. 30. It was subsequently revised by Proclamation No. 41, issued in the same year. In 1955, the commemoration was extended from a day to a week and moved to the last full week of July. Over two decades later, its commemoration was moved to the second week of June. In 2003, the commemorations were reduced from a week to a day and was moved to June 25 per Proclamation No. 396. The same proclamation directed "the active participation of all government agencies, including government-owned and controlled corporations, private sector, schools, civil society groups and the citizenry in tree planting activity". It was subsequently revised by Proclamation 643 in the succeeding year. In 2012, Republic Act 10176 was passed, which revived tree planting events "as [a] yearly event for local government units" and mandated the planting of at least one tree per year for able-bodied Filipino citizens aged 12 years old and above. Since 2012, many local arbor day celebrations have been commemorated, as in the cases of
Natividad and
Tayug in Pangasinan and
Santa Rita in Pampanga.
Poland In Poland, Arbor Day has been celebrated since 2002. Each October 10, many Polish people plant trees as well as participate in events organized by ecological foundations. Moreover, Polish Forest Inspectorates and schools give special lectures and lead ecological awareness campaigns.
Portugal Arbor Day is celebrated on March 21. It is not a national holiday but instead schools nationwide celebrate this day with environment-related activities, namely tree planting.
Russia All-Russian day of forest plantation was celebrated for the first time on 14 May 2011. Now it is held in April–May (it depends on the weather in different
regions).
Samoa Arbor Day in Samoa is celebrated on the first Friday in November.
Saudi Arabia Arbor Day in Saudi Arabia is celebrated on April 29.
Singapore In 1971 a 'Tree Planting Day' was established which in 1990 was replaced by 'Clean and Green Week'.
South Africa Arbor Day was celebrated from 1945 until 2000 in
South Africa. After that, the national government extended it to National Arbor Week, which lasts annually from 1–7 September. Two trees, one common and one rare, are highlighted to increase public awareness of indigenous trees, while various "greening" activities are undertaken by schools, businesses and other organizations. For example, the
social enterprise Greenpop, which focusses on sustainable
urban greening, forest restoration and environmental awareness in Sub-Saharan Africa, leverages Arbor Day each year to call for tree planting action. During Arbor Month 2019, responding to recent studies that underscore the importance of tree restoration, they launched their new goal of planting 500,000 by 2025.
Spain In 1896
Mariano Belmás Estrada promoted the first "Festival of Trees" in Madrid. In Spain there was an
International Forest Day on 21 March, but a decree in 1915 also brought in an Arbor Day throughout Spain. Each municipality or collective decides the date for its Arbor Day, usually between February and May. In
Villanueva de la Sierra (
Extremadura), where the first Arbor Day in the world was held in 1805, it is celebrated, as on that occasion, on Tuesday Carnaval. It is a great day in the local festive calendar. As an example of commitment to nature, the small town of
Pescueza, with only 180 inhabitants, organizes every spring a large plantation of holm oaks, which is called the "Festivalino", promoted by city council, several foundations, and citizen participation.
Sri Lanka National Tree Planting Day is on November 15.
Tanzania National Tree Planting Day is on April 1.
Turkey National Tree Planting Day is on November 11.
Uganda National Tree Planting Day is on March 24.
United Kingdom First mounted in 1975, National Tree Week is a celebration of the start of the winter tree planting season, usually at the end of November. Around a million trees are planted each year by schools, community organizations and local authorities. On 6 February 2020,
Myerscough College in Lancashire, England, supported by the
Arbor Day Foundation, celebrated the UK's first Arbor Day.
United States Arbor Day was founded in 1872 by
J. Sterling Morton in
Nebraska City,
Nebraska. By the 1920s, each state in the
United States had passed public laws that stipulated a certain day to be Arbor Day or
Arbor and Bird Day observance. National Arbor Day is celebrated every year on the last Friday in April; it is a
civic holiday in
Nebraska. Other
states have selected their own dates for Arbor Day. The customary observance is to plant a tree. On the first Arbor Day, April 10, 1872, an estimated one million trees were planted.
Venezuela Venezuela recognizes
Día del Arbol (Day of the Tree) on the last Sunday of May. ==See also==