By Our Reporter
As a move to restore lost tree cover, Uganda Breweries Limited (UBL) and Rotary Uganda on Friday planted over 3000 indigenous trees on 60 hectares of land in Gangu Central Forest reserve, Butambala district. This is the second phase of the tree planting program that was launched in 2018.
Uganda Breweries Limited through its Water of Life initiative signed a partnership with Rotary Uganda to jointly restore 200 hectares of forest reserves within Lake Victoria water catchment areas. The project worth UGX 245,000,000 will see the two entities continuously plant trees in different forest reserves. In phase one of the project, 40 hectares were planted at Gangu forest reserve last year.
According to National Forestry Authority, massive deforestation is one of the most critical environmental crises facing Uganda. Uganda’s forest cover across the country tremendously declined from 24% (4,933,271 hectares (Ha)) of land area in the 1990 to less than the current 9% (1,956,664Ha) in 2018. This means that 3,000,000 ha of forest cover have been lost in 25 years.
Speaking during the tree planting activity, Uganda Breweries Corporate Relations Manager Rhona Arinaitwe said, “UBL is very passionate about to environmental conservation. The water we use for our production processes comes from Lake Victoria and as such, we need to protect the Lake’s catchment areas as a way of protecting the lake. Now that we are done with the afforestation at Gangu, we are moving on to restore Nawandigi Central Forest Reserve in Mpigi District.”
The Speaker of the Buganda Lukiiko, Patrick Mugumbule applauded these efforts and warned against the community against depleting forests.
“The high rate of deforestation has led to habitat loss and soil degradation. Deforestation is also contributing to climate change effects which have led to a substantial decrease in the water volume.” Mugumbule said, adding that deliberate planting of trees will go a long way in conserving the environment and ensuring a sustainable supply of clean water resources.
UBL will for next four years, work with Rotary Uganda and National Forest Authority to plant trees and ensure that they are well maintained and protected against illegal activities.