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Herald Reporter
The Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) Zimbabwe, a humanitarian and development arm of the Seventh Day Adventist Church, is on an environment preservation drive ahead of its 40th anniversary next month with Mr Michael Kruger the ADRA International president coming to Zimbabwe.
ADRA Zimbabwe said the main 40th anniversary celebrations are set to be held on September 8 in Harare under the theme “Life Begins at 40: Plant a Tree”. This is aimed at safeguarding the environment with the target of planting 40 000 fruit trees between August and December this year.
In a statement ADRA Zimbabwe’s country director Judith Musvosvi said they are eager to fight climate change.
“We are thrilled to launch this fruit tree planting initiative as part of celebrating our 40 years anniversary as an ongoing commitment to promote environment stewardship, climate change mitigation, and sustainable agriculture,” said Mrs Musvosvi.
“We have noticed that it will be difficult for anyone to cut down a fruit tree say for firewood, hence as an organisation we are promoting the planting of fruit trees across the country’s 10 provinces in homesteads, farms, schools, and facilities.
“We invite everyone to join us in this important endeavour and be a part of the environmental safeguarding and climate action — celebrating ADRA’s work for 40 years and many more years to come,” said Mrs Musvosvi in a statement.
ADRA Zimbabwe said the fruit tree initiative was complementing the rural horticulture transformation as enshrined in the Horticulture Recovery and Growth Plan and other Government efforts highlighted in National Climate Policy and the National Climate Change Response Strategy.
ADRA said it prided itself in working in communities, complementing Government efforts, and bringing relief and resilience to people around the world for the past four decades under the theme “Serving Humanity So All May Live as God Intended”.
The fruit tree initiative aligned with ADRA’s commitment to environmental stewardship, sustainable practices, climate change mitigation and adaptation, and disaster risk reduction.
Trees played a crucial role in climate change adaptation and mitigating climate change effects and they target planting 1 000 fruit trees across 10 provinces of Zimbabwe, working through the Seventh-day Adventist Church structures and systems in the country.
The launch was done in collaboration with the Ministry of Environment, Climate, Tourism, and Hospitality Industry and technical support and guidance from the Forestry Commission of Zimbabwe.
The church is also encouraging its members to enlist their non-member neighbours and support them to plant fruit trees in their homesteads.
ADRA said they will be working with the Forestry Commission of Zimbabwe to conduct training for youths in planting and management of fruit trees and establishment of nurseries.
To support this initiative, ADRA Zimbabwe is actively seeking strategic partnerships with like-minded organisations, the private sector, farmers, and individuals who share our vision of environmental safeguarding and climate action.
Online Reporter