As part of the 2012 national tree planting exercise, officials from the Ministry of Forestry and their partners have begun planting trees in various regions of the country.
On Tuesday, the tour party crossed to the North Bank Region, where some three thousand trees including malayna, mango and cashew were planted in Kerr Ardo village.
Addressing a gathering of community members before the tree planting, the acting director of forestry, Sarjo Fatajo, raised concern over the current state of the environment.
He reaffirmed his ministry and department’s commitments in protecting the environment and urged communities to join the wagon.
He also thanked the stakeholders participating in this year’s nationwide tree planting for their efforts and concern to restoring the country’s lost trees.
The chief of the area, Fabale Kinteh, commended the department of forestry and stakeholders for the initiative.
Amadou Jaiteh, ADWAC field coordinator, expressed their pleasure to be associated with the tree planting in the region.
Ebou Janka, regional forestry officer, spoke at length on the importance of tree planting, while encouraging the residents to take the exercise seriously.
According to him, the people in the area are facing serious environmental effects and as such even accessing firewood is a daunting challenge for them.
Other speakers on the occasion were the representative of the Gambia Creative Mind Project, Alieu Darbo, and a women representative, Kaddy Jahateh, who both spoke on the importance of sound environment management.