"Planting trees is good for people, wildlife and our environment," said Manitoba Premier Greg Selinger.

More than $6 million dollars has been budgeted for the Trees for Tomorrow program.

Full-grown trees remove CO2 from the atmosphere. Manitoba estimates planting six million trees will remove more than 13 tonnes of CO2 - from the atmosphere annually over half a century.

Manitoba has fallen behind on its Tree for Tomorrow program commitment to plant more than six million trees in Manitoba between 2008 and 2012. Manitoba had only planted 2 million trees by the end of 2010, with an additional 400,000 being given away. It is unclear how many of these trees are actually planted, or if this is accounted for in greenhouse gas reduction estimates.

Manitoba Wildlands recently completed reality check #12 on the Trees for Tomorrow program. "Manitoba needs to do more than plant trees to combat climate change. A good start would be to preserve large tracts of Manitoba's carbon and species dense boreal regions from future development," said Manitoba Wildlands director Gaile Whelan Enns.