A billion trees!
Zebunnessa Laizu, Telecommunication programme, Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand
When I was a child, I knew that a 'Mahogany tree' in our house belonged to me. I felt like something inexpressible in my mind when I watched the growing of the tree along with me. My father planted it on the day I was born. Then the tree was cut down when I got married at the age of 25 years. It was the culture of the southern region of our country. The tree helps the poor father of a girl child to bring her up and meet the expenses during her marriage. So, this culture of "planting one tree for one child" all over the country can be practised.During the national tree plantation programme and "World Environment Day" celebrations we can remind ourselves that only trees can save us from all kinds of natural disasters caused by deforestation and global warming caused by industrialisation. The United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) has launched a campaign called "Plant for the Planet: Billion Tree Campaign" with the objective of planting at least one billion trees worldwide during 2007. Under the campaign, people, communities, organisations, businesses and industries, civil societies and governments are being encouraged to plant trees. The objective is to plant at least one billion trees worldwide during 2007. The idea of "Plant for the Planet: Billion Tree Campaign" was inspired by Professor Wangari Maathai, Nobel Peace Prize winner for 2004 and founder of Kenya 's Green Belt Movement, which has planted more than 30 million trees in 12 African countries since 1977. When a corporate group in the United States told Professor Maathai that it was planning to plant a million trees, her response was: "That's great, but what we really need is to plant a billion trees." So let us plant trees by ourselves in this rainy season. If we don't have any land we can plant trees in a park or public place and nurture them for our future.
|
|
