admin
Marytise Vambayi
Herald reporter
Harare City Council, in partnership with the Friends of the Environment and Nyaradzo Group, has planted 600 trees at Warren Hills cemetery as a way of promoting the Green City Initiative and forest creation.
Council’s chief parks and cemeteries officer, Mr Godfrey Batsirai Munetsi, said Harare City Council is working on a greening and beautification policy aimed at enhancing the quality of environment through active planting, proper maintenance and preservation of trees and vegetation.
“We are targeting 700 trees. We want to balance the exotic and indigenous trees in Harare.
“We are creating green places in cemeteries to mitigate climate change while partnering with other stakeholders,” he said.
Speaking at the tree planting occasion, the administration manager for Friends of the Environment (FOTE) Mrs Patience Fusire said they were championing the re-greening of Zimbabwe through tree planting at a national level.
“Today marks the start of a long journey in the creation of forests with a total of 600 trees planted just as a launch of the many tree-planting activities,” she said.
Mrs Fusire said their goal is to address deforestation, and plant more trees with a target of 500 million trees by 2026.
“Consequently, FOTE aims to champion the afforestation cause in a holistic way by planting trees at a national level.
“The goal is to address deforestation and the main objective is to plant 500 million trees by the year 2026.
“Friends of the Environment and its participating partners have developed activities that evolve around three pillars; which are tree planting, awareness campaigns and nursery establishment,” she said.
Mrs Fusire said planting trees will encourage more people to visit the cemetery and will make maintenance of the grave yard easier.
General manager of Nyaradzo Funeral group, Mr Sydney Chakuchichi, said with the green city initiative they aim to restore the ecosystem, minimise environmental degradation and conserve natural resources.
“Since cemeteries are sacred places, once reclaimed with trees, we limit chances of human interference and consequently create an intact forest.
“The created forest aids in the conservation of natural resources, reduction of carbon emissions, protection of worker health, and the preservation of animal habitat.
“This initiative reduces the need for maintenance of the grave site,” he said.
Mr Chakuchichi said forest cover has a significant bearing in multi-gating the adverse effects of climate change.
“This is in addition to other inconsistencies we are witnessing in the pattern of our seasons which is another sign of adverse effects of climate change like the flooding that is happening in some parts of the city.
“Forests play a role in climate change mitigation since they take up one of the major greenhouse gases, so we should ensure that large areas of forest are reserved and well managed to create sinks for excess carbon dioxide,” he said.
Online Reporter