Nakaseke Benefits from UBL-led Tree Planting Drive

The Running out of Trees (ROOTs) campaign was yesterday taken to Nsaasi Village in Kyamutakasa Parish, Nakaseke Subcounty, Nakaseke district where 3,000 trees were planted.

The land on which the trees were planted is owned by the African Community Centre for Social Sustainability (ACCESS, a community-based organization located in Nakaseke.

The ROOTs campaign is a brainchild of Uganda Breweries Limited (UBL), which has been able to convince a number of others firms in the private sector and government entities led by the Ministry of Water and Environment.

According to UBL Corporate Relations Manager David Onyango, as the beer manufacturer celebrates 75 years in July, it’ll launch another initiative to restore 75 hectares of land in a year (with the year starting that month).

Onyango said, working with the National Forestry Authority, they’ve been able to secure plots in forest reserves to plant trees and so far, they have done this in Gangu, Nawandigi, Navuguru forest reserves, all located greater Mpigi.

The trees are maintained by Tree Adoption Uganda, is a youth-centric non-profit that’s using digital tools to collect data on the seedlings for easy monitoring. Alfred Okidi, the permanent secretary of the environment ministry, said they are planning to launch a national tree-planting campaign in August, where every Uganda is expected to plant a tree.

He said they’ll coordinate with different organisations across the country to provide these trees. To the ROOTs campaign, the ministry, according to Okidi, will provide 20 million seedlings and the campaign targets to sink 40 million trees into the soil every year.