Arua district officials join MEMPROW, Action Aid in tree planting campaign

BY ANDREW COHEN AMVESI

October 15, 2022

ARUA. Arua district bosses on Friday joined the Mentoring and Empowerment Programme for Young Women (MEMPROW) and Action Aid Uganda officials in launching a tree planting campaign at Ocoko primary school in Ajia Sub-County.

The campaign aimed at encouraging locals and institutions in the district to plant more trees so as to restore the already depleted green cover commenced with an advocacy walk in Ocoko trading centre.

The tree planting campaign is being implemented by MEMPROW and Action Aid International Uganda under the strategic partnership agreement II in the districts of Arua and Terego.

During the green day campaign, Immaculate Mukasa, the MEMPROW Executive Director urged the local leaders and the community of Ocoko to take the message of tree planting to people in other parts of the district.

“We planted one or two trees today which in total make a thousand, it is now our duty to plant another one to make two thousand, three thousand or ten thousand trees. If many of us tell others to do the same, we will have millions of trees and therefore, we will preserve our motherland Uganda,” Mukasa advised.

Lillian Ayiru, the Arua district forest officer commended MEMPROW and Action Aid Uganda for coming up with the initiative, adding that the district is ready to support the program.

According to Ayiru, the tree planting campaign will help the district to recover its lost green cover which has continued to be at the risk of total depletion due to charcoal and timber businesses.

She encouraged parents to provide land for their children to plant trees and also take care of them if the environment is to be restored in the near future.

While presiding over the function, Alfred Okuonzi, the Arua district chairperson directed that each homestead should plant at least 50 trees while institutions like schools should have a mini-forest of about 100 trees at minimum during the campaign.

“In the next five years, I want to see Arua district all green, the roadsides and homes must all be green. Individuals must have their own forests and all institutions must be sheltered by trees and that is what we are going to do. We have already started at Ewava primary school where we have a food forest and at Anju primary school, we also have food forest, so we are going around these schools establishing food forests,” Okuonzi said.

“At least each household must plant 50 tree seedlings in our program, then institutions must plant 100 trees. We want both the indigenous and the improved tree species that have been brought so as to restore the environment,” Okuonzi emphasized.

He said as people plant the improved variety of trees, they should also think of conserving the indigenous trees.

“This launch that we are having of aggressive tree planting in one year’s time is not going to replace our indigenous trees, but we are going to make sure that we conserve the existing indigenous trees and we plant more of them so that we conserve our environment. Even if we are promoting tree planting, we are not saying people should go ahead to cut down the indigenous trees, they must conserve them and make sure they take care of them just like the improved tree species,” Okuonzi stressed.

During the function, over 2000 tree seedlings were freely distributed to individuals and institutions to plant and take care of them so that they can survive.

Sarah Amviko, a resident of Enjeva village in Ajia Sub-County also a beneficiary of the tree seedlings said she intends to plant at least 1, 000 trees which will in future cater for her children’s school fees among other benefits.