Plant More Trees campaign underway
17 June 2020
PETER KINJAP
PORT MORESBY – A campaign to plant more trees in Port Moresby and Papua New Guinea has been initiated by Travel4Green (T4G) PNG, a not-for-profit project in partnership with Catholic Bishops Conference.
The campaign has adopted the ‘Keep It Clean. Go Green’ under Pope Francis’s Laudato Si statement and the PNG Conservation and Environment Protection Authority’s recently launched ‘10-million trees in 10 years’ target.
The joint campaign is aimed at involving students in tree planting activities and monitoring PNG’s standing forests to make the environment and communities healthier and more livable.
T4G is leading this campaign which will also nurture nursery tree seedlings, transplant them and monitor and look after the trees when planted to achieve the goal of 10-million trees by 2030.
The awareness campaign will focus on planting specific species of trees to address global climate change and using technology to harness the conservation of nature and monitor irregularities.
The initiative came about because of the need to find solutions to increasing temperatures, poor air quality, lack of parks and green spaces and high unemployment in urban areas.
As one of the small island state in the Pacific, Papua New Guinea is facing the drastic impacts of climate change.
Cities such as Port Moresby are becoming hotter, worsened by more buildings and less green spaces.
The creation of micro climates can regulate daily weather patterns and also increase the country's climate change resiliency by reducing carbon emissions.
Catholic bishops’ secretary for social communications Fr Ambrose Pereira said PNG needs to move to the next level of putting things into practice through tree plantation.
“T4G is passionate about tree plantation and we are happy to look at possibilities for the different commissions and diocese to plant more trees,” Fr Ambrose said.
Last Thursday, the team conducted its first awareness meeting on ‘Plant More Trees’ at Evadana Primary School in Port Moresby.
The event will involve a climate talk by T4G speakers on the significance of planting more trees and the benefits to animals and people. CEPA gave out prizes to students who answer an environment conservation quiz.
Afterwards, trees were planted in the school grounds and discussions held with the school administration to establish Green Clubs in the school and look at possibilities to extend the project to other schools in Port Moresby.
The entirely estimable desire to plant trees is just the first step. Due to Phil's editing, encouragement and help, I explained in my latest book, 'Phascogales and Other Tales', that Amazon has decided to offer as an e book on Kindle at this stage, before trees can be effectively planted and will successfully grow, the whole nature of what to plant and where to plant it must be fully understood.
In relating our own 'Tree Change' in the above book, I describe how we went through a very important learning curve about planting and looking after trees. Perhaps that explanation might help others who also want to plant and look after trees?
BTW, it's called 'Silviculture'.
Posted by: Paul Oates | 17 June 2020 at 01:49 PM