05 Nov 2015

The Botswana Fibre Network (BOFINET) chief executive officer (CEO) Mr Mabua Mabua has said trees play a vital role in life by providing oxygen as well as cleaning carbon dioxide and other gases emitted by vehicles.

He said this during Ngamiland District tree planting day celebrated at Kauxwi village in the Okavango Sub-district recently.

The theme of day was Forests for the people, a key to poverty eradication and Mr Mabua said trees help people in uncountable ways, adding that since the district has plenty of water, people need to plant more trees.

Mr Mabua said low rainfall is also caused by scarcity of trees in the country, which can lead to formation of deserts.

He encouraged people to plant more trees as well as refrain from cutting them down to fight climate change, which is caused by the cycle of deforestation and global warming.

The BOFINET CEO expressed fear towards people who burn the forest noting that its poses danger since there will be nothing left to clean the air noting that people overlook the fact that burning the forest is forbidden and punishable by law.

He applauded the Department of Forestry and Range Resources (DFRR), noting that they relieve people from poverty through backyard tree nurseries, which help beneficiaries and urged people to make use of them to pull themselves out of poverty.

Mr Mabua said morula has been declared as the national tree, motshikiri as the national grass, while sengaparile has been chosen as the national flower.

For his part, Shakawe Kgosi Kia Lempadi cherished the teaching offered about trees, adding that Kauxwi is fortunate to be the first village to host the tree planting day in the region.

He said such events are important and need to be respected, noting that respect is a key to success.

Meanwhile, Kgosi Lempadi applauded tree planting beauty pageants, noting that participation in such pageants develops them and can take them higher.

He urged the DFRR to continue teaching people the usefulness of trees in different villages as well as encouraging villagers to plant trees at their residential areas. 

For her part, the village tree planting committee representative, Ms Kereeditse Kamphanja said about 299 trees were planted in different schools from Mohembo East to Seronga since the 22^nd of this month, while others were given to villagers to plant at their homes.

She said the tree planting was done through volunteering, noting that they were not looking forward to be paid but to serve their community.

Furthermore, she urged fellow youth to be involved in volunteering activities and refrain from wanting payments so they can be seen as firm youngsters.

The DFRR Ngamiland District coordinator Mr Desmond Serero said the objectives of tree planting day were to enlighten the public on tree planting and care as well as the use of trees. He said trees provide shade, fruits as well as poles, therefore need to be taken care on. Ends