By Annet Nakanwagi and Isaac Tayebwa,
PARROTS UG | Conservation Report: The Uganda Wildlife Education Conservation Centre (UWEC) has launched an initiative of planting trees and giving them preferential names as one way of promoting environmental conservation.
The campaign was launched last week on August 9, at UWEC- Entebbe Zoo by the state minister of tourism, Martin Muggara.
Dubbed “Pet a Tree” the campaign is aimed at creating a culture of love for trees by naming them and celebrating their existence every year.
It was initiated by by a non-governmental organisation, African Tourism and Environment Initiative.
Speaking at the launch of the campaign, minister Muggara said the campaign will greatly aid in restoration of lost forest cover in Uganda.
The initiator of the “Pet a Tree” initiative told reports that the campaign is a unique innovation to boost and mitigate climate change effects.
“Petting has always been a reserve of the fauna. So, this time, we shift it to the flora where someone can love a tree the same way they may love an animal,” he said.
Dr James Musinguzi, the executive director of UWEC, who said the campaign conforms to the conservation mandate of Entebbe Zoo stressed that the campaign will enable them adverse effects of climate change.
According to the info at global forest watch, In 2010, Uganda had 6.93Mha of tree cover, extending over 29% of its land area. In 2020, it lost 73.6kha of tree cover, equivalent to 36.0Mt of CO₂ of emissions.
In 2019, media reported that Uganda’s forest cover had been depleted to 8% up from 24% in 1990s.
However, speaking at the launch of the campaign, Stuart Maniraguha, the director of plantations development at the National Forestry Authority (NFA) disclosed that the authority has recovered 12.4% of Uganda’s forest cover out of the 24% which the country had in 1990.
Maniraguha attributed depletion of forest cover largely to population growth and urbanisation which exerts too much pressure on tree thus being decorated.
He disclosed plans by NFA to plant over 40 million trees per year stressing their readiness to partner with the initiators of “Pet a Tree” to ensure a success.
“It is therefore, within our plans to plant 125,000ha, which translates to 40 million trees annually,”
“The concept also brings in petting am already existing tree so that they are not destroyed. This fits into our conservation line and tourism. We shall designate a particular forest reserve for conservation purposes and have a team pet the trees and make sure they are not cut,” Maniraguha explained.
