Uganda Baati and NFA officials in a group photo after a tree planting exercise at Bajo Forest Reserve in Kayunga district
Uganda Baati Limited (UBL), a member of the Safal Group of Companies and Africa’s pioneer manufacturer of building solutions, has signed an MOU with the Government of Uganda’s National Forestry Authority (NFA) to replant 40 hectares of indigenous trees across the country to culminate to 10 hectares per region (Central, East, West and North).
The trees will be planted in the areas of Bajo Central Forest Reserve – Kayunga District, Namatale Central Forest Reserve – Sironko district, Lokiragado Central Forest Reserve – Arua and Mubuku Central Forest Reserve – Kasese district.
The launch of this partnership was witnessed yesterday with a tree planting exercise at Bajo Forest Reserve in Kayunga district that will restore the first ten hectares of forest cover.
UBL and NFA employees and the local community through local administration participated in the exercise.
Current statistics by NFA show that the country is likely to lose all of its forests in the next 25 years.
The repercussions of these actions are clear to see. Besides the landscape almost being completely devoid of trees, the dry season has become longer and filled with more droughts.
The loose soil has caused heavy rainfall to turn into deadly floods, while crops are producing less and less yield.
“In the 1900s, the forest cover was 53%, but by 1990, it had reduced to 24%; by 2017, it was at 12% and between 1990 and 2017, Uganda had lost over 2.4 million hectares of forest cover. In 2019, there was a slight recovery in forest cover to 13% and the collaboration between Uganda Baati and NFA under the corporate forest restoration initiative, is a step in the right direction, we thank the leadership of SAFAL group and Uganda Baati for the continued partnership to combat climate change” said Tom Obong Okello, Executive Director at NFA.
In addition, UBL also recently collaborated with Uganda Hockey in the score a tree campaign where a tree is planted for each goal scored throughout the season.
NFA has identified 5 hectares within Mabira Forest where this partnership shall focus its restoration activities this year.
“As UBL, we deeply care about the people and communities we operate in and live by the values of being a responsible and involved corporate citizen. The Company is guided by four key focus social investment pillars that include: Environment, Shelter, Health and Education. Today’s event falls under the Environment pillar and this initiative will contribute to the realization of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) specifically SDG 13 (Climate Change) and SDG 17 (Partnerships),” said George Arodi, Business Head, Uganda at Baati Limited.
The Uganda Baati Board Chairman, Dr Alan Shonubi, emphasized the company’s commitment to lead the way in reducing the impact of climate change.
“We believe that environmental protection is the only way we can safeguard our future. The situation will get worse if we do nothing. But we can do something about it before it too late,” Dr Alan Shonubi added.
