04 Feb 2020

 Board member of Environment Online (ENO) -Finland, Ms Pirjo Saramaki says tree planting should be a way of life, if the global village wants to overcome complications brought forth by global warming.

When launching a schools tree planting project at Ghanzi Senior Secondary School recently, Ms Saramaki  said that instilling a culture of planting trees in school children could be an effective weapon to mitigate global warming.

She said in Finland, planting trees is a way of life, where every family owns a forest of about five hectares and time and again, school children join their families to plant trees.

“This is why under the Climate Aid project, ENO decided to plant trees in Botswana and Namibia using school children,” she stated.

Ms Saramaki said ENO believed that school children could play a big role in addressing climate change and should be raised to appreciate the role of trees in people’s lives.

“I am happy to see you are already doing something to plant trees in schools.” 

Do good to your climate by planting trees and you will live long,” she challenged her audience.

She said ENO was started in 2000 by a school teacher in Finland, working with Grade Three pupils aged 8-9 years, on tree planting in schools and communities, after realising that there were many environmental issues. She said the network grew over 20 years to 200 schools in over 100 countries, including Botswana.

For her part, principal education officer - Ghanzi, Ms Lehe Mhaladi said the tree planting exercise was part of global commitment in reducing the burden of climate change.

Ms Mhaladi explained that tree planting exercise promoted ecological system and boosts biodiversity, as trees purify the air in the atmosphere, provide shade, protect and control soil erosion.

She said the trees would be used for educational purposes, for instance learning different species of trees in such subjects as agriculture and biology.

 

In his welcome remarks, a representative of Ghanzi senior school, Mr Badiredi Rammokolodi also highlighted the importance of planting more trees, particularly in this era of global warming. ENDS