Balaka District Commissioner Tamanya Harawa has disclosed that the district has earmarked to plant 1.5 million trees during the 2024/2025 National Forestry Season.
Harawa said in an interview after launching the 2024/2025 forestry season in the district on Wednesday at Liwonde Primary School in Senior Chief Sawali’s area.
He, therefore, appealed to communities to take an active role in the tree planting exercise, considering that the district currently experiences huge effects of climate change triggered by human-induced non-environmental activities, such as cutting down trees, among others.
“Balaka is one of the districts experiencing the adverse effects of climate change. Agricultural productivity is not satisfactory because we have damaged the environment. This has caused devastation in our livelihood,”
“Let us all take part in tree planting to minimize the pain caused by effects of climate change,” appealed Harawa, adding that the district focused on smart, innovative ways to plant trees and protect forests for sustainable livelihood for future generations.
“We need to take positive steps to make our environment a better place to live for us all and our grandchildren,” he added.
Project coordinator for the Global Environmental Facility (GEF-7) in the Department of Forestry, Nyuma Mughogho, said there was a need to put much effort into protecting trees that have been planted to ensure a high rate of survival.
“The survival rate of trees most of the time is minimal. It is time that everyone must take responsibility to take care of trees that have been planted,” she said.
Mughogho said the Department of Forestry, in partnership with the district council, had reinforced a working relationship with the communities to instil a culture of ownership of the planted trees to enhance the survival rate of the seedlings.
“We have witnessed that over the years, we plant more trees but only less survive. We are, therefore, calling on traditional leaders and community members to be vigilant in protecting the environment. Everyone must be committed to preserving the environment,” she said while calling for a mindset change to achieve restoration of the depleted forests.
“Let us not just leave the issue of planting and protecting trees to forestry departments and non-governmental organizations. Everybody must be involved,” she emphasized.
Vice President Michael Usi launched the 2024/2025 national forestry season on December 17, 2024, in Chitipa District under the theme ‘’Restore Forests and Land to Secure Food Production.”
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