Environment Conservation
2) 50 million trees for Africa by 2050
The fifty million trees project was initiated in response to Uganda and Africa’s worsening climate-induced disasters caused by various human activities that have targeted tree cutting without replacement.
Uganda’s forest cover, for example, has declined sharply, from 4.9 million hectares (24% of the country’s total land area) in 1990 to less than 1.8 million hectares (9% of the country’s total land area) in 2018 according to the Global Forest Watch. This represents a 57% decrease in just 25 years, equivalent to an annual loss of approximately 122 000 hectares.
The development has been attributed to the use of biomass for fuel cooking/combustion (about 90% of Ugandans use firewood and charcoal for cooking), with other auxiliary drivers including agricultural land expansion, sporadic urbanisation and industrialization, and insufficient incentives for private plantation forests, income poverty, ignorance, and poor intra and inter-sector coordination with regard to the continued issuance of land titles in wetlands and reserved forests.
This poses a significant threat to human life and sustainable development, as it has already resulted in devastating consequences such as recent floods in Mbale and Kapchorwa in Uganda where at least 30 people died and several were displaced, and drought in Karamoja and south western Uganda, both of which have been linked to climate change. We have set out to restore and maintain Uganda and Africa’s lost forest cover by planting 50 million trees across the continent over the course of 5 years.
SHORT TERM GOAL
In the next five years, we hope to complete the planting of the first 5 million trees as a significant step toward our larger vision of 50 million trees by 2050 thus focusing on strategic locations, community engagement, and sustainable practices to ensure the initial success of this ambitious reforestation initiative.
LONG-TERM OBJECTIVE
To reconnect young people with nature and contribute to the restoration of Uganda and Africa’s declining forest cover.
OUR MAIN GOALS
To reconnect the current generation of young people with nature in order to preserve biodiversity.
Restore Uganda’s forest and green cover by planting at least 50 million trees by 2050, with a goal of 10 million trees planted each year.
To improve household healthy values by making nutritional fruits and information easily accessible in schools and public places.
To make environmental science practises simple and commonplace for nearly everyone.