Saplings of significance: Nurturing cultural value of new tree plantings through participatory opportunities

Tree‐planting initiatives are a crucial part of international sustainability and climate action efforts. Yet, many of these initiatives fail to achieve their long‐term sustainability and climate goals. The role of community value is an often‐overlooked factor in promoting the success of new tree plantings. When communities are engaged, the activities offered are often limited to tree planting and maintenance, which can promote social injustices. In this perspective article, we argue that integrating cultural significance considerations into modern tree‐planting initiatives will help to address these issues, centring the voice and values of local communities and taking a long‐term view. We argue that this is key to realising the socio‐environmental goals of new tree plantings and our legacy of us as practitioners. We identify pathways through which cultural significance is generated and suggest activities that could be employed and facilitated by tree‐planting initiative organisers to build connection to those pathways. As cultural significance takes time to build, we propose some more immediate social benefit outcomes that could be measured within the early years of a new tree‐planting project. Synthesis and applications . Practitioners will find that integrating cultural significance considerations into tree‐planting initiatives early on will not only enhance long‐term success but also support community connections to the past, revitalise landscapes, foster cultural pride and help achieve additional metrics of success such as promoting equitable access to nature.