By Our Reporter
The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Water and Environment, Mr. Alfred Okidi led the Tororo Archdiocese on a tree planting exercise in Mbale as a way of boosting the ROOTs Campaign which was launched in March this year.
The Running Out Of Trees campaign, also commonly known as the ROOTs campaign is an initiative that has brought together both the private/public sectors together to raise awareness about the adverse impact of tree cutting activities on our environment.
This initiative between the Ministry of Water and Environment in partnership with the private sector led by Uganda Breweries Limited with support of various corporate and private organizations was innovated to implement the National Greening Campaign that was officially launched in 2020.
Given the restrictions of the Global Covid-19 pandemic that broke out early last year, a ROOTs App was created to make it easy for the public to take part in the campaign by buying a tree seedling through the App at only UGX1500 to ensure that a tree is planted on their behalf.
The Vicar General Tororo Archdiocese, Reverend Father Chrsitopher Emuseet said, “As the catholic church we are happy to take part in such a great cause because as Christians, God expects us to take care of the environment and one way of doing it is by restoring what has been destroyed.’’
In the last decade, Uganda has carried out several Policies, Legal and Institutional Reforms aimed at promoting the conservation and sustainable use of the country’s forest resources.
Among the key reforms include putting in place of the National Forestry Policy 2001 and enactment of the National Forestry and Tree Planting Act 2003. Despite these interventions, the country continues to lose forest cover at a very alarming rate due to deforestation.
Speaking at the event Mr. Alfred Okidi, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Water and Environment said that the Ministry is ready to welcome more partners on board because the campaign is built around engaging local stakeholders in attaining national restoration goals, through increased public awareness and participation with the aim to rally Ugandans especially the private sector into action in the conservation and protection of indigenous tree species to address ongoing loss and conversion of primary and secondary natural forest.