His Excellency President Dr Julius Maada Bio today commenced a national tree planting exercise and launched the National Tree Planting Project to minimise impact of climate change and fulfil commitment in the country’s Medium-Term National Development Plan.
“In general, the project is aimed at planting 5 million trees in approximately 14,706 hectares of degraded lands and coastal areas in the entire country. The project is expected to last for four years and the planting of trees will be done in 5 Phases. Phase 1, which commences this year, will end in June 2021 with 1.2 million trees planted. Phases 2 to 5 will start in May 2021 and end in June 2024 and 3.8 Million trees will be planted.
“The co-benefits from health, agriculture, employment, water conservation, to economic development, are too numerous to name in this brief statement. It will initially target 10,000 youths comprising at least 50 percent women,” he said
The President disclosed that the National Reforestation and Afforestation Project, which was included in the 2020 budget, would benefit the whole country, adding that it would be pursued along with Government’s commitment to creating jobs in rural communities.
“This project is critical for various reasons: It will increase forest cover, enhance the capacity of carbon sequestration and biodiversity, and help reduce the adverse impact of climate change on the country; it will prevent the displacement of populations caused by flooding, as the trees will curtail water from heavy downpours; it will reduce early and erratic rainfall patterns leading reduced flooding and windthrow hazards.
“The national tree planting exercise will provide other ecosystems support functions such as water conservation; it will help to combat soil erosion along hills and slopes and aid soil conservation in agricultural areas; and finally the project will contribute to addressing several UN SDGs, the AU Agenda 2063, and Cluster 7 of our country’s Medium-Term National Development Plan,” he said.
The First Lady,Madam Fatima Maada Bio, at the tree planting exercise
The President recalled that in his inaugural speech to parliament in 2018, he stated that Sierra Leone was ranked the 3rd most vulnerable country to climate change in the world or the 3rd country in the world with the least capacity to respond or adapt to environmental change. He, therefore, reiterated his campaign pledge to focus on the protection of the environment and the prevention of natural disasters in the country.
State House Media and Communications Unit
Comments