Working with Communities in Tree Planting Helping Has Helped LL Council In Protecting Newly Planted Trees

Efforts in protecting the newly planted trees seem working with Lilongwe City Council east it boasts that working with communities no cases of uprooting of trees are being recorded this year.

The Lilongwe City Council says involving communities in Tree Planting this season has been the best alternative of protecting newly planted trees in the city.

The Council during this year’s tree planting season has been involving communities led by Chiefs in planting of trees in their communities.

Assistant Director in the Department of Parks, Repletion and Environment responsible for Forestry Activities in Lilongwe City Council, Mr. Lackson Chingana says the Council used communities is the wake of past experience where communities have been uprooting newly planted trees for fear that they will lose land for farming. 

He said current communities involvement in tree planting has develop the sense of ownership of the trees.

“As Lilongwe City Council, one of our mandates is to make sure that we are protecting environment within Lilongwe city, so as a department which is responsible for environmental rehabilitation, one of the programmes that we have put in place is to rehabilitate the environment by planting trees.”

“What we are doing right now is that we are trying to involve the community as one way of protecting trees. Though we have patrol team that goes around to make sure that people are not cutting down trees, but in the past we have observed that still when the trees are still small there are always uprooted.”

“So, we thought this time around we should involve the community, because if we involve the community in the tree planting programme we are instilling the spirit of ownership” adding that, “if somebody plants the tree will make sure that that tree is protected.”

He further said “Whereas we are involving them in tree planting we are as well sending the message to them to make sure that we protect the environment because if we don’t protect environment it is the very same community which is going to suffer.”