WESTERN PROVINCE

NYABIHU — The Nyabihu district acting vice Mayor, Frank Ukobucyeye, has said that the district will have planted 1.8milion trees by the end this year.

About 220,000 trees will be planted in the Bigogwe Sector alone, where floods killed and displaced people last year. He announced this during a recent tree planting campaign in the area.

Addressing hundreds of residents in Bigogwe, Ukobucyeye explained that the National tree planting week that kicked off on Monday should be used to remind residents of their role in environmental conservation.

This, he said, should be done at community levels to create future generations of people committed to environmental protection.

"What happened to our Sector last year is a good example of how disastrous it can be when the environment is tempered with, we lost many people and property as a result of a long term destruction of Gishwati forest by agricultural activities,” Ukobucyeye said, in reference to the September 2007 incident in which 17 people died and dozens were left homeless when floods hit the area.

He called upon residents to develop a deeper commitment to environmental protection through planting new trees and taking care of the existing ones- for improved weather patterns and the maintenance of a crucial balance in nature.

"The preservation of the environment and the reconstruction of the ecosystems development have to be from now on, considered as every one’s responsibility. This is our commitment in the National Development Plan and we are going to carry it out as a team,” he added.

Patrice Safari, an official from the Ministry of Natural Resources, called upon residents to plant agro forest trees around their homes which he said would protect the environment and at the same time fight diseases due to poor nutrition among children.

"When there is such a tree in your compound, it creates around it an atmosphere of natural beauty. You can eat the fruits from the same tree, sit under it and enjoy the cool shade. It has many important uses,” he said, calling upon families to have at least 10 agro forest trees around their households.

At the meeting, residents said they were aware and supportive of the government’s environmental protection drives and promised to plant more trees.

They however, expressed their concern over the ban on carrying out farming in the Gishwati area yet 85% of the area residents depend on agriculture.

"We have for over seven months been stopped from doing any agricultural activities on Gishwati yet our survival depends on agriculture,” said one Jeannine Mukamuhire.

In response, the vice Mayor said that the issue was also a big concern to the district’s authorities and they were working hand in hand with agriculturalists and researchers to locate cultivatable areas on Gishwati.

"I promise, the plan will be announced to you in three weeks time and cultivatable plots will be given to you to resume your activities,” said Ukobucyeye.

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