9,842 trees planted in Kapit this year

KAPIT (Dec 20): A total of 9,842 trees were planted here throughout this year, said Kapit District Officer Cerisologo Sabut.

He said the trees were planted through various programmes and initiatives.

“This greening programme is to create awareness of how important trees are. Malaysia is one of the countries that preserves its forests well.

“Forests are valuable natural assets to socioeconomic development as well as the ecosystem being the habitat for millions of species of flora and fauna, providing source of clean water supply and oxygen, and stabilising the climate,” he said when leading a tree planting programme at the Lily Pond open space here today.

The programme was organised by the Forest Department in collaboration with Kapit District Council (KDC) and Sarawak Energy Berhad (SEB).

Cerisologo said at 42 per cent or 7.6 million ha, Sarawak is the biggest contributor to Malaysia’s forest cover overall.

He said Sarawak is working to ensure its forest cover remains at 62 per cent and has targeted to plant 35 million trees by 2025.

According to him, Sarawak has successfully planted 8,568,594 trees this year, far exceeding its target of seven million trees.

Since 2021, he said Sarawak has managed to record the highest number of trees planted in Malaysia at 30,925,360 trees.

Kapit Forest officer Zaidi Mawek said today’s programme sought to encourage all stakeholders to plant trees in open spaces such as school compounds, roadsides, and recreational grounds.

“Today, 120 trees of various species will be planted at the Lily Pond compound. To date, Kapit Forest Department has planted trees at the Lily Pond compound, public recreational grounds, and along the 47km stretch of Kapit-Song road from Song traffic light,” he said.

Zaidi pointed out that as Kapit is a main producer of tropical timber, the tree planting programme was timely and appropriate to inculcate awareness of greening.

“The five-year plan from 2021 to 2025 is to plant 100 million trees throughout the country. Sarawak is to plant 35 million high-yielding trees for future generations – belian, ramin, engkabang, meranti, gaharu, durian, and other fruit trees,” he said.

Some 200 participants joined the tree planting programme.