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Tanzanians mark Tree Planting Day tomorrow
2005-12-31 09:25:56
By Patrick Kisembo
Tanzanians will tomorrow participate in the National Tree Planting Day, a day chosen to restore the lost vegetation in the country.
The National Tree Planting Day was established in 2000 under the Prime Minister’s order contained in Circular Number one of 2000 to be observed every first day of the month of January each year.
The general public started observing the day effectively from 2001 when thousands of trees were planted countrywide.
It is expected also that despite the current lack of rains in many areas in the country, thousands of trees are expected be planted so as to continue nursing areas countrywide that were facing a dangers from desertification.
A press statement from the Permanent Secretary to Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism stresses that every region must have its own arrangement of planting trees.
The Day that goes hand in hand with the New Year festival will not target number of trees that are to be planted as the areas are facing serious drought.
The PS in the Ministry responsible urged the general public to plant few trees due to rain scarcity.
’’People need to plant few trees if there is not enough rains and later when there is rain they have to plant the rest,’’ said the Ministry’s statement.
The figures show that since the establishment of the National Tree Planting Day up to 2004, a total of 248,000,000 trees had been planted which is 80 per cent of the 310,000,000 trees, which were expected to be planted in that targeted period. The 2005 figures were yet to be known.
In her 2004 speech on the National Tree Planting Day, the former Minister of Natural resources and Tourism, Zakia Meghji, said the country had been losing 91,000 hectares of forest land every year, which she said, was a major threat to the environment. In 2004 only 60,000 hectares were planted.
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