5-year campaign to plant 100m trees kicks off next year

 

Malaysia will step up the "greening" of the country from next year through a campaign to plant 100 million trees over five years until 2025.

Led by the Energy and Natural Resources Ministry with the cooperation of the Forestry Department of Peninsular Malaysia (JPSM) and state forestry departments, it entails efforts to mobilise society to join the government to plant trees to achieve the target.

Energy and Natural Resources Minister Shamsul Anuar Nasarah said the target for next year was planting 20 million trees.

He was speaking during a press conference after the pre-launch of the "100-million Trees Planting Campaign 2021-2025" in Putrajaya today.

He said departments under the ministry will focus on planting the national tree that is the Merbau tree and species that are becoming extinct.

Meanwhile, the public, private sector, and non-governmental organisations will be encouraged to plant trees that have many branches.

"Plant one tree. If all Malaysians do that, it will speed up achieving our target,” he said.

Shamsul said monitoring the campaign's execution will be done using the application Penghijauan Malaysia and website www.100jutapokok.gov.my.

The campaign's theme is "Greening Malaysia: Our Trees, Our Life".

"The application and website can be accessed by all ministries, departments, and the public who will function as counters for recording the number of trees planted during the duration of the campaign,” he said.

Agencies under the Forestry Research Institute of Malaysia (FRIM) and JPSM will also monitor the implementation and care of trees in the campaign, he said.

Shamsul said this campaign is to expand awareness among the people on the importance of conserving trees and forested areas and maintain Malaysia's pledge at the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio De Janeiro to retain at least 50 percent of the land size of the country under forest cover.

Shamsul Anuar Nasarah

"This campaign is also aimed at raising awareness among the people on the importance of forests to tackle climate change. The trees planted will benefit all life on Earth by giving oxygen, cooling the environment, and also contribute to achieving Goal 15 of the SDG (Sustainable Development Goals), that is Life on Land," he said.

According to him, Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin is scheduled to launch the national-level 100 million Trees Planting Campaign 2021-2025 on Jan 5 in front of Seri Perdana.

He said the campaign will also be launched simultaneously by menteris besar and chief ministers in their respective states.

At today's event, Shamsul also launched the official logo of the campaign which combines three elements of the Merbau tree that symbolises the integrity of forests as well as the unity of the three regions in Malaysia, namely Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah, and Sarawak.

- Bernama