12 Apr 2022

Planting trees and cleaning the environment resonate well, Ministry of Environment Natural Resources and Tourism acting permanent secretary Ms Baitshepi Hill has said.

She said as the world grappled with climate change, some of the activities that Southern African Science Services Centre for Climate Change and Adaptive Land Management (SASSCAL) was implementing would go a long way in combating climate change, desertification and promoting sustainable use of natural resources.

She said this at SASSCAL 10th anniversary, which it celebrated through tree planting and litter picking at Batlokwa National School.

She said the ministry, together with initiatives brought by SASSCAL recognised environmental conservation as a priority.

To that end, government was ready to support its activities.

She explained SASSCAL was a joint declaration signed between ministers of Angola, Botswana, Germany, Namibia, South Africaand Zambia in Windhoek in April 2012, conceptualised to support research capacity development and science services in participating countries.

This was to also enhance the ability of communities to adapt to climatic change through environmentally sensitive options, which prioritised food security, biodiversity conservation, climate change, forest resources conservation and water security.

Ms Hill said through the event, SASSCAL and all stakeholders were contributing to environmental rehabilitation through encouraging a clean environment and planting trees.

She urged Batswana to plant especially indigenous trees to prevent their extinction.

Batlokwa Senior chief’s representative, Kgosi Motsholathebe Gaborone emphasised the need to replace trees that were cut to make urged Batswana to plant trees in their yards to help fight climate change.

Kgosi Gaborone called on Batswana to plant trees beneficial to food production to boost food security. Ends