Hamden (right) launches the ‘Greening Sarawak’ 2021 Social Media competition at Bangunan Baitul Makmur II. – Photo by Roystein Emmor
KUCHING (Aug 12): Sarawak will achieve the target of planting seven million trees of various species this year, says state Forest Department director Datu Hamden Mohammad.
This takes into account that about 6.7 million trees of various species have been planted throughout the state so far this year.
“It is the result of the Forest Landscape Restoration (FLR) programme of the state government, which aims to plant 35 million trees within five years.
“This means we have to plant seven million trees each year. Based on a statistics, we have about 300,000 more trees to be planted to achieve the target (seven million trees) for this year,” he said at the launch of ‘Greening Sarawak 2021’ Social Media Competition organised by the department here yesterday.
Though not an easy task, he said they were confident of achieving the target through the involvement of all parties.
Hamden said the FLR programme, launched in 2019, was one of the state government’s initiatives to ensure that Sarawak could maintain at least 62 per cent forest coverage.
The programme, not only focuses on the preservation of state forests but also forests in other areas such as residential areas and schools.
Thus, the FLR campaign is now called the ‘Green Sarawak’ campaign and the state Forest Department is calling on Sarawakians to plant trees in their backyards as well as in other suitable areas.
“As a responsible agency, Sarawak Forest Department will collect data on all the tress planted,” Hamden said.
The people can visit Penghijauan Malaysia website to see the latest information and statistics on trees that have been planted.
“They can also register themselves on the website and update the statistics on the trees they have planted. The department can help if they cannot register,” he said.
Meanwhile, Hamden said Sarawakians were encouraged to participate in the ‘Greening Sarawak’ Social Media competition organised by the department in conjunction with the State Public Service Innovation Month Celebration this year.
The competition has three categories, namely #GreeningSarawak at Facebook, ‘Greening Sarawak’ TikTok Challenge and ‘Greening Sarawak’ YouTube Challenge.
“The competition, which runs from today (Aug 11) to Sept 20, offers prize money of RM6,400.
The objective of the competition is to diversify current activities and attract the people to support the ‘Greening Sarawak’ campaign.
More information on the competition can be obtained from the department’s website at forestry.sarawak.gov.my.