Back and Next - Back and NextNEA Tree Nursery competition winners awarded
Thursday, February 26, 2009
The National Environment Agency (NEA) in collaboration with the department of state for Forestry and the Environment, department of state for Education and the US Peace Corps in The Gambia, last Tuesday awarded the winners of the Western Region Gambia All Schools Tree Nursery Competition (GASTC), at Nyofelleh Lower Basic School.
The Gambia All Schools Tree Nursery Competition sponsored by the United State of America embassy in Banjul, seeks to educate and motivate schools and communities to develop tree nurseries while learning different tree species, the importance of forest management and reforestation. Alex Silvester, national coordinator of The Gambia All Schools Tree Competition from the Peace Corps, expressed delight and thanked all the schools for their participations. He said GASTC was a joint project sponsored by the USA embassy, Standard Chartered Bank among others. He further expounded on the importance of tree planting in our communities and the criteria used to judge the performance of schools during the competition.
David Haffner, principal department officer who deputised for the regional director, Region 2 said that it is incumbent upon all, to jump on the wagon in contributing positively to meet the requirement of this most special demand. “This is due to the fact that our environment indeed needs to be properly taken care of to the fullest, to be a better place to live and a bid to further improve upon the quality of our livelihood for generations to come” he said.
According to him, tree plays an important part in enhancing livelihood and therefore, urged all to go green as has been adopted in most countries. He added: “In The Gambia, we are being reminded and encouraged by the initiative of President Jammeh’s pronouncement of the back-to-the-land; an initiative which has been embraced by all”. Aji Ramou Njie-Loum, marketing manager, Standard Chartered Bank said the World Bank has estimated that the economic cost of environmental degradation in developing countries has reached 4-8 per cent of GDP annually.
She said Standrad Chartered Bank’s environmental agenda in the country was aligned to reforestation and regeneration of the Gambian River watershed- the main highway and artery for Gambia’s economy. She added that The Gambia government have been driving this agenda, realising that reforestation was critical for its own ecotourism initiatives and its local industries. Thus she added, government’s ‘Plant a Million Trees Initiative’ has been widely and actively supported by the media and civil society.
He then commended the coordinating committee for organising this laudable environmental initiative and the winners of the competition. She also revealed that SCB Gambia has aligned their own initiative and launched a ‘green revolution’ by planting 16,000 trees at the Kabafita Forest Park in collaboration with department of state for Forestry.”
Rodney Stubina, associate director, US Peace Corps, said cutting down trees is easy and fast, burning wood is also simple and cheap but planting trees is hard, time consuming and costs money. He noted that The Gambia has experienced severe deforestation in recent times leading to soil degradation in a country that relies almost exclusively on agriculture. She then recommended that tree planting and environmental education, are the very direct and important ways to fight the damage done.
The three schools that emerged winners in the Gambia All Schools Tree Competitions are: Nyofelleh Lower Basic School which came first, Mayork Lower Basic School came second and Bullenghart Lower Basic School came third. Each of the three schools went away with farming tools and a certificate.
The Gambia All Schools Tree Nursery Competition sponsored by the United State of America embassy in Banjul, seeks to educate and motivate schools and communities to develop tree nurseries while learning different tree species, the importance of forest management and reforestation. Alex Silvester, national coordinator of The Gambia All Schools Tree Competition from the Peace Corps, expressed delight and thanked all the schools for their participations. He said GASTC was a joint project sponsored by the USA embassy, Standard Chartered Bank among others. He further expounded on the importance of tree planting in our communities and the criteria used to judge the performance of schools during the competition.
David Haffner, principal department officer who deputised for the regional director, Region 2 said that it is incumbent upon all, to jump on the wagon in contributing positively to meet the requirement of this most special demand. “This is due to the fact that our environment indeed needs to be properly taken care of to the fullest, to be a better place to live and a bid to further improve upon the quality of our livelihood for generations to come” he said.
According to him, tree plays an important part in enhancing livelihood and therefore, urged all to go green as has been adopted in most countries. He added: “In The Gambia, we are being reminded and encouraged by the initiative of President Jammeh’s pronouncement of the back-to-the-land; an initiative which has been embraced by all”. Aji Ramou Njie-Loum, marketing manager, Standard Chartered Bank said the World Bank has estimated that the economic cost of environmental degradation in developing countries has reached 4-8 per cent of GDP annually.
She said Standrad Chartered Bank’s environmental agenda in the country was aligned to reforestation and regeneration of the Gambian River watershed- the main highway and artery for Gambia’s economy. She added that The Gambia government have been driving this agenda, realising that reforestation was critical for its own ecotourism initiatives and its local industries. Thus she added, government’s ‘Plant a Million Trees Initiative’ has been widely and actively supported by the media and civil society.
He then commended the coordinating committee for organising this laudable environmental initiative and the winners of the competition. She also revealed that SCB Gambia has aligned their own initiative and launched a ‘green revolution’ by planting 16,000 trees at the Kabafita Forest Park in collaboration with department of state for Forestry.”
Rodney Stubina, associate director, US Peace Corps, said cutting down trees is easy and fast, burning wood is also simple and cheap but planting trees is hard, time consuming and costs money. He noted that The Gambia has experienced severe deforestation in recent times leading to soil degradation in a country that relies almost exclusively on agriculture. She then recommended that tree planting and environmental education, are the very direct and important ways to fight the damage done.
The three schools that emerged winners in the Gambia All Schools Tree Competitions are: Nyofelleh Lower Basic School which came first, Mayork Lower Basic School came second and Bullenghart Lower Basic School came third. Each of the three schools went away with farming tools and a certificate.
Author: by Yunus S Saliu
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