To appeal to the growing number of conventioneers interested in lowering their carbon footprint, the ­Hawai‘i Convention Center has partnered with the Hawaiian Legacy Reforestation Initiative to plant 1 million native trees on the Big Island.

The Hawaiian Legacy Reforestation Initiative is a Hawaii island nonprofit that has planted 340,000 trees, mostly koa, on land that had been a koa forest before it was razed for lumber and to make room for cattle grazing. The Hawai‘i Convention Center has pledged to triple that number by marketing the reforestation project as a way for organizations that use the center to offset their carbon emissions.

“This landmark reforestation effort underscores the Hawai‘i Convention Center’s long-standing commitment to practices that enhance the conservation of Hawaii’s natural resources and the perpetuation of Hawaiian culture,” said Teri Orton, general manager of the center. “This is in direct alignment with our multifaceted sustainability plan, which includes energy efficiency, water conservation, air quality, waste reduction and sustainable purchasing.”

The new partnership comes at a time when the center and its guests are increasingly focused on green-business models. Conference organizers are looking for ways to counter the environmental impact of having hundreds of visitors fly to Hawaii for a convention.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature drew more than 9,000 conservation-minded participants from over 190 countries to the convention center for a 10-day World Conservation Congress that ended Saturday.

The IUCN had a much-publicized plan about offsetting carbon emissions from its related air travel, shipping, ground transportation, hotel stays and logistics. As part of this effort, participants were encouraged to mitigate their carbon by donating to the Cordillera Azul National Park Project; doing so would help prevent an annual loss of about 17,000 acres of Peruvian forest.

Orton hopes in the future conference organizers will turn to the Big Island tree project to offset carbon use.

Toward that end the Hawaiian Legacy Reforestation Initiative sold trees at a new kiosk on the third floor of the convention center last week. The nonprofit charged $60 to plant a koa tree. Orton said she hopes that tree sales were brisk but didn’t have the exact number.

“Trees are the lungs of the planet,” said Jeff Dunster, HLRI’s executive director. “They re-establish the watershed, they take pollution out of the air and they create oxygen. They help species that are having a hard time because of the environment. Koa is one of the most valuable hardwoods in the world, but leaving it in the forest is still more economically sound. Planting trees is sustainable development in its simplest form.”

The recent collaboration with the convention center provides an opportunity to reach and educate people from around the world, Dunster said.

He added that the convention center commitment comes in addition to pledges from about 70 other partnerships the nonprofit has established. Taken all together, HLRI has received commitments to plant over 2 million trees — surpassing its original goal of planting 1.3 million trees, he said.

In the past seven years, HLRI and its affiliated sustainable-forestry company Hawaiian Legacy Hardwoods (HLH) LLC have planted trees across 1,000 acres of a 1,200-acre parcel on Hawaii island, Dunster said.

The process has contributed jobs and new economic partnerships that help sustain Hawaii’s economy and its culture, he said.

Through its proprietary technology, HLRI has created a way for sponsors to track legacy trees. The information will help HLRI and HLH collect agricultural information to develop better growing practices. The plantings also have created a unique tourism venue: Hawaiian Legacy Tours, which brings tourists to the forests to see rare Hawaiian hardwoods and endangered animals in the kind of setting that has been nearly eradicated from modern times.

“A hundred years ago Hawaii was 96 percent agriculture,” Dunster said. “Currently we are at 2 percent.”

Dunster said the Hawaiian Islands were once blanketed in koa forests, with the largest trees used for dugout canoes for Hawaiian royalty.

“They went with a one-two punch. Most koa trees were removed for ranching and farming until in the 1970s people realized that it was a valuable hardwood,” he said. “Sandalwood was coveted from the start.”

Visitors to HLRI’s forest now can see 22 tree species including sandalwood and koa, and they might encounter Hawaiian hawks, owls and nene, he said.

“They are all on the endangered list, and they are living and breathing in this forest,” Dunster said.

While none of the reforested trees have died yet, HLRI plans to partner with artisans who can turn portions of the cut tree into artwork for its sponsors. The service is expected to be especially popular with memorial trees.

“About a quarter of the trees that get planted are memorials,” Dunster said. “People bury the ashes with the tree, and the calcium in the ash gets absorbed into the tree. It would be very special if pens for all of the grandkids were made out of such a tree.”

Wil Gilliam, chief information officer for HLRI and HLH, said the company’s cultural adviser, Earl Regidor, often brings his ohana to plant legacy trees.

“They do all of the cultural chanting and protocols. It’s very special to observe,” Gilliam said.

Other times trees are used to mark births and marriages, Gilliam said. Sometimes the plantings are even more poignant, he said, recalling a 13-year-old boy named Dylan who used his wish from the Make-A-Wish Foundation to plant a legacy tree with his dad, mom and sister on the slopes of Mauna Kea.

“Of all the things that he could have chosen to do, he came from the mainland to Hawaii to see a volcano and to plant a tree,” Gilliam said. “It was moving for all the employees. We were all humbled. It made me realize this is the best job — it sustains us and we get to give back.”