Thursday 4 April 2025 marked an important milestone for Multi Masters Group and its French parent company Samsic. As part of the ‘Caring for Forests’ project, the planting of as many as 23,261 trees was initiated in Amel, in the east of Belgium. This tree-planting initiative contributes to Samsic’s ambition to plant a total of 100,000 trees by the end of 2025.
Protecting nature and biodiversity
A team of Multi Masters Group led by chairman Nicolas de Schutter gathered in Amel, a municipality in the German-speaking part of Belgium, on Thursday morning. There, they welcomed Stéphanie Delamarre, Director of CSR and Sustainable Development at Samsic, and representatives of some clients.
Stéphanie Delamarre and Nicolas de Schutter during the tree-planting campaign for ‘Caring for Forests’.
“Protecting nature and biodiversity is in Samsic’s DNA”, said Stéphanie Delamarre, who had come over specially for the tree-planting campaign from Samsic’s headquarters in Rennes, France. “It is our duty to think of future generations and caring for the environment occupies an important place in this. With the ‘Caring for Forests’ project, we are pursuing an ambitious target of planting 100,000 trees by the end of 2025. We are enormously pleased that we can also count on our Belgian daughter company Multi Masters Group for this.”
Nicolas de Schutter added: “It gives me great pleasure that here today, together with our employees and customers, we can make an active contribution to the objectives of this beautiful project by Samsic.”
Restoration for a more resistant forest
The forests in Amel have suffered greatly in recent years from extreme weather conditions and the destructive impact of the bark beetle. The monoculture spruce forest at an altitude of over 500 metres is now being restored by establishing a tree-planting operation with a mix of three broad-leaved species and one conifer species: larix eurolepis (larch), fagus sylvatica (common beech), quercus petraea (sessile oak) and betula pendula (silver birch). This will not only enhance biodiversity, but also create a more resilient forest that is more resistant to climate change.
A representative of the Département de la Nature et des Forêts (DNF), which manages the forest, explains. “For these trees, a stable weather type is ideal, but this has not been the case in recent years. This area has suffered considerably in the past five years, with three extremely dry and then two very wet years. The planting of different tree species will help create a more stable and healthy forest. Thanks to these new trees, it will be more resistant to the vagaries of the weather.”
Plantation of 23,261 trees
This plantation is part of a long-term vision to reforest 150 hectares of forest in Wallonia. The planted trees will not only make the forest more resilient. But they will also promote biodiversity, contribute to CO2 storage and provide better protection for the soil.
About 100 trees were planted during the tree planting campaign. This marked the start of the planting of a total of 23,261 trees. In the coming weeks and months, the local organisation Sylva Nova will continue and monitor the reforestation in consultation with DNF.
International efforts
Samsic operates in a total of 27 countries. Efforts under the Caring for Forests project are spread across several countries. Before the tree-planting campaign in Belgium, there were similar initiatives in France, Spain and Portugal.
- Erquy (Brittany, France). In November 2022, the reforestation of a forest heavily affected by insects started on the Château de Bien Assis estate, northeast of Saint-Brieuc. Here, 7,950 trees were planted, including oaks, pear trees and Scots pines. The variety of tree species will make the forest more resistant to future biological threats.
- Belorado (northern Spain). Belorado is an area that has suffered greatly from drought, heatwaves and forest fires in recent years. A large-scale reforestation project was set up here to restore the soil and bring back natural vegetation. A total of 8,772 trees were planted, including swamp oaks and black pines. This is part of a larger plan to plant a total of 69,960 trees in this region.
- Santa Clara (south of Portugal). The reforestation area in Santa Clara had been abandoned for years due to lack of resources and interest. Samsic’s ambition here is to plant 8,772 trees, as part of a broader vision to bring back 29,208 trees to this former eucalyptus area. To increase resilience to climate change, seven different tree species were selected, including olive trees.
A more sustainable future
With its plantings in Amel, Erquy, Belorado and Santa Clara, Samsic Group is taking a big step towards a more sustainable future. Through these projects, the company is actively contributing to the fight against climate change, biodiversity restoration and the protection of our natural ecosystems.
