KAMPALA: Stanbic Uganda has committed UGX 100 million towards tree planting to mark Uganda’s National Tree Planting Day.
In partnership with the National Forestry Authority (NFA), Minister of Water and Environment, Stanbic Bank Uganda joined other corporate companies such as Uganda Breweries and National Water and Sewerage Corporation to commemorate the National Tree Planting Day under the ROOTs 2022 Campaign: Restoring Forests and integrated Trees in our degraded landscape.
Over 1 Million trees were planted across the country yesterday to commemorate the celebrations.
Catherine Adengo, Stanbic Bank corporate affairs manager, said in response to the challenges affecting society, including environmental degradation, they believe they can play a key role by participating in the restoration and protection of our natural forests and promote greater foliage cover across the country.
Adengo added that Stanbic has been supporting the Running Out Of Trees campaign by purchasing tree seedlings which are then distributed to different schools to sensitize students on environmental conservation and sustainable development.
She added that last year, in partnership with TotalEnergies and Roofings Group, Stanbic Bank announced a tripartite partnership to support at least 250 secondary schools to plant 150,000 fruit trees. Employees of the bank and TotalEnergies were expected to plant a third of the seedlings.
Speaking at the function at Entebbe Botanical Gardens on Thursday, Vice President Jessica Alupo, who was the guest of honour said restoration of tree cover is everyone’s responsibility.
“We were challenged to restore 2.5 million hectares of degraded landscapes by 2030. Today, with support of private sector partners like Stanbic who are contributing to the cause, we can meet our national obligations and tackle climate change,”Alupo said.
The European Union Head of Cooperation Uganda, Ms Caroline Adriaensen, joined government of Uganda officials led by Alupo to participate in the campaign.
She said planting trees “is definitely a shared objective” between EU and Uganda, noting that under the European Green Deal, the EU biodiversity strategy for 2030 commits to planting at least 3 billion additional trees in the EU by 2030.
She said the EU is working to give better means to support a green and climate transition in Uganda, and is designing a new €40m (Ugx 54b) grant programme to support the sector in a holistic manner covering value chains development, governance & conservation & restoration.
According to NFA, between 1990 and 2020, Uganda’s forest cover declined from 4.9 million ha (24%) to 2.5 million ha (12.4%).
