Campaign for planting 8,000 tree saplings kicks off

Jumla / July 4: The tree plantation campaign has kicked off at the national forest area of Seridanda in Kudari VDC – 1 with the slogan ‘Plant tree and save forest, let us make Jumla district green’.

State Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, Bal Bahadur Mahat, inaugurated the campaign for planting a total of 8,000 tree saplings .

State Minister Mahat arrived in the district to plant tree saplings on a bare hill and spoke of rapid deforestation as triggering drought. He further stressed on fulfilling the essence of the old adage ‘Hariyo Ban Nepal Ko Dhan’ (Green Tree is Nepal’s Asset) from Jumla.

“Certificate will not do anything, so words should be matched by deeds and let us start from today our bid to conserve the forest areas, plant trees and bring reformation,” the State Minister said. He also called for bringing awareness among the people for the same.

District Forest Official, Mohan Prasad Shrestha, said the country was witnessing five per cent growth in forest areas due to the initiative taken by the Ministry of Forest and Soil Conservation. He also revealed a data recording four per cent reduction of forest in Jumla at the same time.

Seridanda National Forest Plantation Programme Support Committee Chairman, Ram Giri, attributed the success in realizing the goal of planting tree saplings to the effort which was launched last year.

The District Forest Office Jumla assisted with Rs 250,000, Nepal Climate Change Support Programme (NCCSP) Rs 100,000 and Kudari VDC Rs 100,000 for the campaign, Assistant Forest Official, Shyamlal Mahat said. The District Forest Office provided 8,000 tree saplings, it is learnt. RSS