9,000 indigenous species planted east of Melbourne on 26 May at annual planting day

Thirty hard-working volunteers from five Climate Positive offset partners planted enough indigenous species to draw down 10,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide over their lifetime, at Climate Positive's 2010 planting day in Wantirna South on Wednesday.

To see photos of the day, go here.

The planting, of 9,000 plants over four hectares, was the first to be carried out on Parks Victoria land, and the first to be carried out in an urban area - this time in Axford Road in the City of Knox, 30 kilometres east of Melbourne.

The dedicated efforts of the volunteers who came from the financial services, communications and automotive industries, among others, made the first steps toward restoring resilient and diverse ecosystems on land which had been cleared for farming.

Brendan Condon, founder of Climate Positive, was thrilled with the overwhelming interest among offset partners in this year's annual planting day.

"We love involving our offset partners in our annual planting days, which replant permanently protected, biodiverse forests, because it helps us to deal with historical carbon debt," Mr Condon said.

"This is also a day of firsts for us and we are very pleased to be partnering with Parks Victoria for the first time," he said.

Climate Positive has restored a total of 40 hectares of biodiverse forest.

Previous ‘Going Positive' planting days have been held on private land in the Strzelecki Ranges, South Gippsland, Victoria, where some of the world's tallest forests once stood.

In 2008 in the Strezlecki Ranges, offset partners planted nearly 12,000 trees - a wide range of understorey species - over the course of two and a half days.

Climate Positive is a not-for-profit organisation which partners with business and families to take a positive step to reduce global warming through plantings, offsetting and climate education.

For every tonne of carbon offset with Climate Positive, the company will purchase and surrender a tonne of accredited abatement, and plant 4m2 of forest on cleared land which is protected from future development.