Uganda Breweries Limited Staff in partnership with the Ministry of Water & Environment and Tree Adoption Uganda (TAU), have planted 5000 trees in Nakaseke District in commemoration of World Environment Day which is celebrated on June 5th every year.
Just like others, the activity is part of the initiatives to support the Running out of Trees Campaign
In 2020, the Ministry of Water and Environment launched a National Tree Planting Campaign Running out of Trees (ROOT)to engage local stakeholders in both the public and private sector in making a contribution towards attaining national restoration goals.
This year, the Ministry supported by Uganda Breweries Limited aims to plant over 40 Million trees. Uganda Breweries Limited, on top of this 5000-tree planting initiative has already contributed 330 Million shillings to this initiative which is the equivalent of growing and maintaining 2,200,000(Two Million Two Hundred thousand) Trees
Speaking at the Tree Planting activity, David Onyango, the Head of Communications & Sustainability, Uganda Breweries Limited emphasized the need to create good relations with our environment so as to fight the negative effects brought about by mismanagement of the ecosystem.
“Uganda’s catchment Areas are vital in providing livelihoods to millions of Ugandans through activities like fishing, trade and providing fresh water. It therefore has become a necessity for Uganda Breweries every couple of years to recommit to tree planting activities in these areas in order to continue to support communities that depend on the lake for their daily bread. We strongly believe that for effective environmental management, improving the livelihoods of people is the first step in the right direction to sustainable growth.”
In 2018, Uganda Breweries Limited through its Water of Life initiative signed a partnership with the National Forestry Authority NFA and Rotary Uganda worth over 200 Million to jointly restore Gangu and Nawandigi Forest Reserves in Mpigi District and other forest reserves within the Lake Victoria water catchment areas.
Mr. Alfred Okot Okidi, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Water and Environment cited that The ROOTS campaign being a partnership between the government, private sector and the civil society organizations, religious organizations, institutions and the cultural institutions, is one way of bridging the gap in the management of climate change and conservation of the environment in Uganda.
He added, “as a ministry, we are supporting the campaign by providing seedlings, technical inputs and also availing land in especially the degraded forest reserves for planting. Our target for this year is to plant at least 40 million trees.”
As Uganda Breweries celebrates 75 years on 27th July 2021, the UBL’s top executives together with a team of over 30 staff from the E – Green Team planted 5,000 tree seedlings on 75 hectares with an aim of restoring forest cover within forest reserves in Lake Victoria Basin catchment area.
This is part of the UBL’s spirit of progress which includes a 10-year action plan to help create a more sustainable world through making a contribution in preserving the natural resources. In 2018 the E-Green team received and planted at least one tree seedling at their home, which saw the business plant over 500 trees of several varieties in one weekend in and around the areas they live in.
Tree Adoption Uganda came on board the Running out of Trees Campaign this year to ease monitoring, maintenance, transparency and most importantly accountability of the project and to ensure that the planted trees mature to full capacity.
The Running out of Trees campaign is a 5- year initiative that will run until 2025. This will see a total of 200 million trees be planted across Uganda. It is anchored around the private sector joining development partners in supplementing government efforts on the conservation and protection of mainly indigenous tree species that are being lost to different human activities, resulting in an estimated 15million tons of carbon that would have adverse effects on our climate and wellbeing.
