Employees and their families from across Mitsui’s Australian group companies spent their recent Sunday morning connecting with nature, putting their hands in the earth and planting trees as part of National Tree Day.

Mitsui Social Contributions Committee member, Kaoru Curmi said National Tree Day was about recognising the importance of protecting Australia’s native vegetation and encouraging people to plant tree saplings.

“National Tree Day is the country’s largest annual tree-planting and nature care event and highlights the important role trees play in tackling global issues like climate change,” Ms Curmi said.

“Trees make a real difference protecting valuable wildlife habitat and reducing carbon emissions.”

“Spending time in nature is an added benefit as it reduces stress, improves happiness and wellbeing,” she said.

Since National Tree Day started in 1996, more than 4 million people have planted over 25 million native trees and plants and donated 10 million hours of their time.