Dr Taufiq officiating the university’s level Malaysia Greening Programme: 100 Million Tree-Planting Campaign.
KOTA KINABALU(Sept 29): Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) is targeting to plant 200,000 trees by 2025.
UMS yesterday launched the university’s level “Malaysia Greening Programme: 100 Million Tree-Planting Campaign” in support of the government’s agenda to plant 100 million trees between 2021 to 2025 under the 12th Malaysia Plan (12MP).
Its Vice Chancellor Prof Datuk Dr Taufiq Yap Yun Hin said the university supported efforts to conserve forests in Sabah.
“During this five-year campaign, the Sabah State Government aims to plant around 36 million trees under five categories, including forest farming, forest restoration, rubber plantation and fruit trees.”
At the university’s level, he said UMS has set a target for every staff and student at the main campus, Labuan international campus and Sandakan campus to plant one tree this year and two trees in the subsequent years till 2025.
“In 2025, a total of 200,000 trees would have been planted not only in UMS, but also involve other areas,” he said when officiating at the programme held virtually via the Tropical Forestry Faculty’s Facebook page.
Taufiq added that cooperation from industry partners were required to make the campaign a success and this would be done in stages starting from October to December this year.
He said the theme of the campaign, “Our Trees, Our Life”, showed the government’s determination in promoting public awareness on the importance of forests to the wellbeing of humans.
He said forest and environmental conservation was not the sole responsibility of the government, but also the duty of all quarters, including the private sector, higher learning institutions, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), village communities and individuals.
Earlier, UMS Tropical Forestry Faculty dean, Associate Professor Dr Normah Awang Besar @ Raffie said UMS through the faculty was a member of the national-level technical committee of the Malaysia Greening Programme.
She said the committee was responsible for advising matters pertaining to tree planting, conducting multi-disciplinary studies to support the implementation of the campaign’s objectives, coordinating data collection and technical reports, as well as promote the campaign to inculcate the culture of tree planting at the domestic and international levels.
She said the campaign aimed to foster love for the environment and support the commitment to preserve forest cover in Malaysia.