Indian Community, with support from the Environment Ministry and Green Up Gambia, Organizes Tree Planting Exercise
Minister of Environment helping to plan a tree
By Fatou Sillah
The Indian High Commission in Dakar, together with the Indian Community in The Gambia, hosted a tree planting event at Calypso Beach in Bakau on Friday to celebrate World Environment Day. The event also saw participation from the Ministry of Environment, Climate Change, and Natural Resources, as well as the environmental organization Green Up Gambia.
The event represented a significant effort to advance sustainable practices and strengthen international collaboration in environmental protection.
Addressing the gathering, Rohey John Manjang, Minister of Environment, Climate Change, and Natural Resources, emphasized the collective responsibility towards environmental issues.
“Matters of the environment is all of us together. Oxygen does not segregate that X is this tribe, it belongs to this organization, therefore whatever is going to be matters of the environment we should take bold step to make sure that we give it our best. It is one thing to plant but making sure that the tree is growing is our main concern, and that is why we are having climate issues. We have enough trees on mother earth, but we have used them more than we have to plant them. Therefore, we have to go back to the original way that life has brought it,” she said.
Indian High Commissioner Mr. Dinkar Asthana outlined the origins of the tree planting initiative.
“This all started in India when the Prime Minister initiated a campaign called “plant a three for Mother Earth”. Under this campaign we will plant eight hundred million trees by march of next year and one thousand four hundred million trees approximately the population of India in two years time. We have to identify public spaces, to green them up and under this theme our embassies and high commissioners are also taking an initiative to contribute wherever they are located,” he said.
Kemo Fatty, founder of Green Up Gambia, highlighted the ongoing efforts of the National Environment Agency in coastal protection through eco disaster risk reduction.
“Coastal restoration is a significant event the National environment agency over the past years have been really striving towards protecting our coastline mostly through Eco disaster risk reduction. We have to be able to take care of our environment, sustainable development is something that provides the need of the present without compromising the ability of the future to fend for themselves. We remember this in all of our actions. So today is a reminder to give back to our planet, one that has nurtured us and given us sustenance,” he said.