Mukono – Kakira Sugar Limited and Uganda Red Cross Society (URCS) have planted 2,500 trees in Namakwa – Mukono district as a drive to combat climate change. This is part of the 65,000 trees donated by Kakira Sugar Limited over a 6-year period (2022 – 2027).
Robert Kwesiga, Secretary General of Uganda Red Cross Society emphasized the URCS commitment to the ESG Agenda, citing the Environmental commitment as an approach to Climate Action through tree planting. “URCS aims to plant at least five million trees by 2025. We applaud Kakira Sugar Limited for coming on board to contribute towards that target by donating trees that we are planting today,” said Kwesiga.
Kwesiga added that Tuesday’s tree planting drive is in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 13 which calls for urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts, linking to all the other 16 Goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
James Mawa, Horticulture Manager Kakira Sugar Limited reiterated the commitment of Kakira Sugar to reducing environmental impact through planting trees. “Kakira Sugar Limited is committed to reducing environmental impact and we are continuously working towards improving the impact of our operations on the environment. Kakira Sugar Limited has partnered with URCS and has donated 65,000 tree seedlings over 5 years (2022 – 2027) under our KORD horticulture project which supports continuous conservation of the environment. We believe that these trees will further conserve the environment in Uganda.”
Mawa added that of the 65,000 trees donated by Kakira Sugar Limited to URCS, 15,000 were planted in the Busoga region in 2022 where the sugar planting communities are located. This year, 5000 trees were planted in the Elgon region, 2,500 in Jinja district, and 2,500 trees in Mukono Namakwa.
The sustainability plan is for URCS youths to look after the trees and nurture them. Uganda Red Cross has over 70% of its membership as Youths, who are committed to the Institutional call.
While drawing lessons from the recently concluded COP28, Emmanuel Ntale, the URCS Manager for Climate Action and Environment said: “Benching from the just concluded COP28, commitments such as tree planting were discussed as efforts towards addressing climate change and an opportunity to identify global solutions for limiting global temperature rise.”
Countries such as Uganda that were represented committed to developing more ambitious Nationally Determined Contributions (national climate plans) due by 2025 to accelerate the green transition that is desired across the globe, Ntale added.
URCS calls upon more partners to join the tree planting drive to Green Uganda and curb the negative effects of climate change.
