Leaders, locals, and stakeholders in Jinja district celebrated the world environment day with planting trees aiming to promote the preservation of the environment. Over 600 fruit trees were planted along Muguluka-Buyengo road, a 10km distance to Buyengo town council headquarters.
Girl for Climate Action, a Jinja based nonprofit organization advocating for climate justice, spearheaded the celebrations with the main event organized in Kamwokya. The district celebrations featured school going children in processions with loud voices demanding climate justice.
The annual environmental day celebrated on June 5, and Uganda held its national function in Sironko district. President Yoweri Museveni presided over the national event.
While planting mango trees, avocado, and jackfruits among other fruit trees, Joan Babirye, the head of Girl for Climate Action told Jinja residents about of the importance of maintaining and preserving the environment to address the challenges of climate change.
Babirye said they chose Buyengo as a highly affected area by climate crisis after the destruction of Butamiira forest reserve. T127-acreres forest was eaten up by Madhivani sugar company for sugarcane plantations in the past years.
“We have not planted these trees for fun but for a purpose. We are not merely celebrating the world environment day but actually commemorating it. In fact, we want to ensure our areas are well with the environment,” Babirye said.
She emphasized this environmental day theme of “Land restoration, desertification and drought resilience,” saying that residents have the responsibility to restore the destroyed green plantations that address climate change.
She encouraged residents to take care of the planted trees as they shall benefit them by providing shade and fruits to the young people.
“We are not planting these trees for ourselves. We are planting them for the future generation. Our young children will enjoy the fruits in the future. Therefore, we need to take care of these trees,” she said.
James Hamba, the chairperson LC3 for Buyengo town council, said the climate crisis in Buyengo prompted him to convince Girl for Climate Action to take action in addressing the issues. The organization petitioned parliament, demanding the restoration of the forest.
“The situation in Buyengo is not okay climate-wise. My council and I resolved to plant trees, and we convinced this organization. They bought trees we are planting today, which are going to help us in the future,” said Hamba.
The local leader appealed to schools to embark on the journey of planting more trees and decried the sugarcane plantation that only brings about deforestation, leading to environmental issues.
However, Babirye called on the government to implement its policies designed to protect forest reserves, lakes, and rivers from encroachers. She says several distressing acts have been done against the natural resources, but authorities resort to keeping deaf ears.
“The government should emphasize and implement its policies. We have good policies restricting people from encroaching in wetlands and littering garbage in water bodies, but they are not being implemented, which is really a problem to us,” she added.
After planting trees in Buyengo, the group headed to River Nile in Jinja city to clean the banks of the river where plastic bottles and other garbage littered in the river were removed. Babirye said people deserve drinking safe and clean water.
