National Church Will Plant A Tree For Every Child Baptised

The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Iceland, better known as the National Church, has launched a new initiative, Fréttablaðið reports: to plant a new tree for every child baptised in the church.

Bishop Agnes Sigurðardóttir announced the plans for a “baptism forest” in Iceland at the start of the year, and the church council has put the final touches on the idea, which will likely be launched this spring or summer.

The baptism forest is in conjunction with a larger project, “The Green Church”, wherein the National Church hopes to get more involved in fighting the climate crisis.

Pétur Markan, the communications director for the church, believes that by the current figures, this project will mean some 3,000 to 4,000 trees planted each year.

“One of the advantages of the church is that we own land all over the country,” he told reporters, adding that each tree will be marked by the name of the person baptised for it. “We’re looking at a lot of different places that would be suitable for growing trees.”

Mostly birch and fir trees, the more common trees in Iceland, will be grown, but a determination will be made at each plot of land as to what trees would be most suitable to plant there. If all goes well, Iceland could indeed see thousands of new trees planted with each passing year.