The Action Platform on Environment and Development (CAPED) has recently concluded a massive tree planting exercise at Sintet, Foni Bintang District.
According to the organiser more than 2,000 plants including fruit, nut, indigenous, and highly endangered tree species were planted at the Kebba Yeronding Community Forest.
The organiser noted that the exercise aimed to contribute towards food self-sufficiency while also helping to nurture and propagate highly endangered tree species for posterity.
Mr Momodou Inkeh Bah Founder of CAPED disclosed that the Community Forest Park Project is part of a component of a wider project funded by BADEA. He disclosed that through the project CAPED planted 20,000 mangroves in Baobolong wetlands and another 20,000 in Bintangbolong wetlands.
He expressed his organisation’s sincere appreciation to BADEA for funding this project which has both nutritional and ecological value, adding that the project will benefit over 4,000 people in different ways.
“The objective of this project is to restore the damaged ecosystem and provide a breeding ground for fish, shrimps, and oysters. It will also support biodiversity, stop salt intrusion into women’s rice fields, and offset carbon footprints,” Momodou Inkeh Bah, revealed.
He, therefore, encouraged communities to plant more trees, especially mangroves in the national quest to restore the lost forest as well as combat the impact of climate change.
He disclosed that a hectare of mangroves can sequester up to 5 tons of carbon in a year and is worth 3 tons of fish and oysters.
The unaltered Community Park is among the few protected forest parks in that region and serves as a big motivation and inspiration for other communities who are now trying to replicate the initiative.
CAPED is an environmental organisation that mainly focused on SDG13 (Climate Action).