A national programme to plant one billion Gliricidia, or Giniseeriya, saplings as it is locally know, to mark National Tree Planting Day got underway in Trincomalee, under the aegis of President Maithripala Sirisena.
The president marked the opening of the programme by planting a Karuwala sapling in the Kantale Forest Reserve. In line with this happening, school students, the police, the three armed forces as well as the Civil Defence Force participated in a programme to plant 2000 saplings across two hectares.
The president also engaged in a discussion with the students and inquired into the shortcomings at their schools. The president then moved to the National Tree Planting Programme and addressed the importance of protecting the environment.
The president noted that, at this moment, there are hundreds of thousands who are facing a serious issues due to the inability to access clean drinking water. The president observed that the arid weather not only affected humans but is also seriously affected the flora and fauna of this country. Therefore Environmental and Forest conservation is important, pointed out the president.
He added that the tree planting programme will not be limited to only the month of October.
He stated out that this is happening all over the world -and if the environmental destruction continues, the children and the entire population will have to face serious challenges on surviving. Therefore it is the responsibility and duty of all to protect the environment, stated the president.
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