We’re reforesting an active volcano.

High on Mexico's tallest volcano, 4,000 meters up, there's a place most people will never see. We're looking at some of the few remaining fragments of a magical ancient forest. This tree might just look like a tree, but actually it's one of the most impressive life forms on earth, and it's part of a system keeping millions of us alive. But this forest is vanishing fast, and as it disappears, it's setting off a chain reaction that reaches far beyond this mountain. That's why Ecosia and Planet Wild have teamed up in the fight to bring it back, protecting the communities downstream and turning this into this. I'm making my way up Mexico's tallest mountain. In fact, it's the highest active volcano in all of North America, which explains its iconic 400-meter-wide crater. But it's not just any old volcano. This is the Pico de Orizaba. And at high elevations along these slopes is a one-of-a-kind ecosystem called a sky island. Just like ocean islands are surrounded by water, cold mountain peaks in this region are surrounded by a sea of hot air. This means the animals and plants here live in a cooler climate that is like an island, because they're less able to thrive in the warm lowlands. So over thousands of years, that isolation has created a really unusual community of plants and animals that can be found only on these sky islands. Like the Mexican dusky rattlesnake, the endemic mountain horned lizard, and a teeny tiny volcano rabbit called a teporingo. This thing is so cute and so small. And sitting atop like a shining star is the Chamapa glacier. Indigenous peoples have said that when the sunlight hits that glacier, It shines like a star, which is why it's also called Star Mountain. But this mountain is not only home to lizards and rattlesnakes. What happens here has knock-on effects for millions of people down in the valleys below. Here, the volcanic soil acts like a giant sponge. When it rains, the forest helps the water sink in, and the whole mountain becomes one huge water tank. Then, month after month, that sponge slowly lets the water go. It feeds the springs and rivers, sending clean water downstream, even in the middle of the dry season. But people that live in the valleys have reported that their rivers are drying up. And that's because there's something really wrong here. Up in the mountain, the forests are disappearing. Logging can become so lucrative that suddenly, huge tracts of ancient forest are being removed on an industrial scale, and the local people have no choice but to participate. But yes, I had to do this. This is Jose, and the mountain is his home. When the loggers moved in, working for them was one of the few ways to earn a living. They tore up the mountain slopes for timber and farmland, devastating the ecosystem and dividing the community. No, pues la verdad no, no era muy... Very simple, but yes, it will be a... I don't have words to describe it. More than 80% of the forest here has been lost, and when you remove the trees that help store water underground, rain now flows downhill in dangerous flash floods and mudslides. And in the dry season, those riverbeds have no water at all, because that spongy volcanic soil has none to release, leaving potentially millions of people without water. I have to put in all my effort to be able to regenerate, to be able to have those good consequences of a regeneration of an ecosystem. Meet Keta. She leads the work here for Reforest Acción, a Mexican non-profit bringing back this volcano's lost ecosystems. So I see the login and first of all I was like really sad but now I think it helps me to feel strong and to say we can do it, we can do it together. Reforest Accion are working together with the Arbor Day Foundation. They have been around since 1972 and their focus is trees. Boy do they know about trees. They have planted more than half a billion of them around the world. The Arbor Day Foundation It's the connective tissue bearing support to local need around the world. We do this backed with science, knowing where the trees matter the most, where they are the right place, the right time, through the people that live in those areas, through local knowledge. Here in Mexico, we're doing just that to bring back the Sky Islands. Together with Arbide and Reforestación, we're going to rebuild the forest up here. But at 4,000 meters, the forest we're building is not your average forest. This is the warrior tree, also known as the Hartwig's pine, and it's pretty special. Trees at elevation really struggle and oftentimes they grow to be really small. But not this guy. This tree is so hardcore that scientists even studied it to find out if we could put trees on Mars. It can populate peaks up to 4,500 meters. And using their thick bark, resin, and special antifreeze compounds inside their cells, they can withstand everything from forest fires to freezing temperatures. The trees spend the first year of their lives in the nursery, developing a strong root system before actually growing taller. And now, they're ready to be planted on the volcano. And we're here to help. For this project, Ecosia teamed up with Planet Wild. They're restoring nature through monthly missions that are community-funded by people just like you. If you don't know them yet, definitely check out their channel, where we've also posted this video. Together, Ecosia and the Planet Wild community are planting 49 hectares of high-altitude forest along this volcano's slopes. Just imagine, you're a tiny little seedling, just trying to survive. It is extremely difficult but somehow the Hartweg's pine manages it. When they're little like this the most important thing is that they're protected from the UV radiation, the wind and extreme temperatures. Luckily all the grasses, shrubs and herbaceous plants around here help protect these little ones as they grow for those first crucial very slow years. The seedlings develop a specialized network of fungi that help them to break down the mineral rich volcanic soils into bioavailable nutrients. And after our work here, this is what the volcano could look like. This is an old growth forest. Where I'm standing right now is about 100 years Further up, that forest is 200, 300, maybe even more years old. It's amazing how different it feels. It's like every surface is covered, nothing is bare. And the most beautiful part is that the community that used to log these trees is now essential to bringing the forest back. They are the guardians of the forest. They are the ones who do all the field work. I couldn't have done it without the community. Now that there is work to reforest trees, things are changing. Locals like Jose can actually be part of the solution, planting new forest instead of cutting it down. And with the community here to watch over them, these warrior trees now have a future. You can help this project for free, and many others like it, just by switching to Ecosia. Ecosia is the search engine that uses 100% of its profits for the planet. It only takes about 30 seconds to get started. And every search helps grow real trees where they're needed most. So thanks so much for searching and making a difference. Hope you enjoyed the video. See you next time.