Uganda Breweries Limited together with Stanbic bank and other stakeholders have partnered to plant trees in different parts of Uganda through a marathon relay drive dubbed “Root campaign” aimed at creating awareness on the dangers of deforestation.
The 2-day marathon relay that will kick off from Parliament in Kampala to Gulu, from 7th to 8th February 2020 will include professional and volunteer runners to go for 330km each relaying 10km.
While announcing the marathon at Stanbic Bank offices at Created towers on Wednesday, Barbara Kasekende, The Corporate Social Investment Manager, Stanbic Bank, said as part of the their social Corporate Responsibility, they believe in a sustained vision that focuses on social, economic and environment goals.
She added that it’s for that reason that Stanbic injected Shs10 Million in the marathon to contribute to the restoration of the tree coverage.
“Stanbic will join UBL in the ” Running out of trees” (ROOT) campaign by planting trees at over 200 schools as part of our Corporate Social Responsibility priorities. The campaign speaks to Stanbic’s ambition and our aim is to contribute to the restoration and promoting tree planting in Uganda for sustainable development,” she said.
Ronah Alinaitwe from Uganda Breweries Limited said that the statistics from the ministry of Water and Environment show that the forest cover is reducing and this propelled them to initiate the idea to galvanize other private sector players to find a solution.
“We approached The Ministry of Water and Environment and the statistics showed that human activity had destroyed the forest cover by 24% from 1990. That is how we came up with an initiative to do something about it. We shall start with awareness to the public and a call of action to plant trees to restore the green Uganda,” she said.
She added that the registration for the runners is complete and volunteers are welcome to join them along the 330km run which she says will have 33 relays of 10km intervals from Kampala to Gulu.
The marathon relay will be followed by the National Day of Tree Planting that falls on 25th April 2020 under the theme “40 Million trees in 8 hours” where every Ugandan is expected to plant at least one tree.
By Drake Nyamugabwa
