Chronicle Editor
Michell Zvanyanya, Chronicle Reporter
THE Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA) has urged its members to help in the preservation of the environment by planting and conserving trees to counter the damaging effect of deforestation in the country.
ZNA Bulawayo District Commander Colonel Ossie Olie Mhandu made the remarks during the army’s belated Tree Planting Day commemorations at Imbizo Barracks on Wednesday.
The National Tree Planting Day is held on the first Saturday of December every year.
The commemoration, held in partnership with the Forestry Commission, Nyaradzo Group and the FMC Finance, ran under the theme “Fruit trees for food security and nutrition”.
Col Mhandu said according to the Forestry Commission, 130 000 hectares of forest are lost each year due to deforestation as more people use wood for fuel, leading to land degradation.
She attributed the excessive cutting down of trees to the continuous growth of settlements in the city that force people to cut down trees to meet their daily needs.
Col Mhandu called on ZNA members to take interest in protecting the environment through planting trees every year.
“This belated Tree Planting Day event has been organised with the spirit of motivating the nation to plant and conserve trees. Currently increase in settlements has given more impetus to the cutting down of trees to accommodate increased urbanisation and agricultural imperatives.
“Owing to an increase in the global population, forests are rapidly becoming depleted as the inhabitants of ever-expanding human settlements are cutting down more trees to meet their daily needs,” she said.
“In response to the increased threat to the environment, we must all make a concerted effort to plant trees to replace those that would have been destroyed. It is in this regard that I urge the Bulawayo District army to remain ever ready to play its part in alleviating the dire effects of deforestation by taking a keen interest in environment protection through the planting of trees each and every year.”
The ZNA District Commander planted an indigenous fruit tree known as granite garcinia in English or umkhemeswane in Ndebele and matunduru in Shona.— @michellzvanyanyan2
Online Reporter