Officials planting a tree during the national launch of the tree campaign
Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) led by Pelum Uganda have embarked on a campaign to plant over 2.5 Million trees in a period of one year with the aim of securing the diversity of agro forestry and enhance resilience to climate change.
During the celebration to mark 25 years and national launch of the campaign on 27th October 2020, at Botanical Gardens in Entebbe, the Chief Executive Officer, Pellum Uganda, Stella Lutalo, said that together with partners especially the small holder farmers , they have continued to contribute to the conservation of the environment.
She said that the network with over 60 members and other stakeholders is advancing agro-ecology to foster ecological land use management.
“PELUM Uganda will engage her members and partners working with smallholder farmers to plant and undertake regeneration agriculture initiatives such as Farmer Managed Regeneration and agroforestry to increase tree cover which will lead to increased farm productivity and resilience to climate change effects,” she said
The theme of the campaign is: “Trees for a health agro system”
DrJohn Mulumba from the Plant Genetic Resources Centre in Entebbe urged the public to take advantage of the genetic resource centre to acquire tree species at the centre and plant trees to expedite the role trees can play in extracting resources from the ground and the environment while advancing the preservation of agro forestry and we’ll being of Ugandans.
“This plant genetic resource center preserves over 100 plant species and 500 species of live plants; please take advantage of the center to plant trees for food and agriculture to secure the diversity of agro forestry and wellbeing of Ugandans,” he said.
The Assistant Commissioner Crop Production, Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Fisheries, John Lodunkoli, urged the public to support community based initiatives that enhance demand driven benefits to the people to sustain environment projects.
PELUM Uganda is part of a 12-country strong association of civil society organizations in Eastern, Central and Southern Africa.
Since 1995, PELUM Association has been working to improve the livelihoods of small-holder farmers and the sustainability of rural communities, through the fostering of ecological land use management. PELUM Association has a membership of over 250 CSOs while PELUM Uganda has over the years grown to a 60 member network in 102 districts.
According to Statistics from Ministry of Water and environment, deforestation is high on private land through tree clearing for agriculture, industry and settlement. The deforestation rates have caused a declined forest cover from 24% in 1990 to 9% in 2016.
By Drake Nyamugabwa
