Stanbic Bank Uganda has partnered with Uganda Breweries Limited (UBL) in a new awareness campaign against deforestation by encouraging the public to plant trees to foster sustainable development and save the environment.
The employees of the two institutions will take part in a marathon relay from Kampala to Gulu involving other companies, to highlight the dangers of deforestation.
The Two-day 330 kilometers run is part of Running Out of Trees Campaign will culminate in to the national day of tree planting in April this year.
National Day of Tree Planting is under the theme ’40 million Trees in eight Hours. It is hoped every Ugandan will plant and grow at least one tree. Over 33 influential runners; both professional runners and volunteers from corporate companies will participate.
Stanbic Bank Uganda Corporate Social Investments Manager, Barbara Kasekende told journalist in Kampala that the Running Out of Trees or ROOT Campaign speaks to Stanbic’s environment ambitions and our aim is to contribute to restoring and promoting tree planting in Uganda for sustainable development.
“At Stanbic Bank, we believe in doing the right business the right way. Stanbic’s sustainability vision focuses on Social, Economic and Environmental (SEE) goals, where we aim to ensure we create shared value in the societies and environment in which we operate.”
She revealed that Stanbic will join Uganda Breweries Limited by planting trees in the over 200 schools as part of its Corporate Social Investment priorities.
Kasekende revealed that the initiative is expected to create more awareness about the importance of planting trees and also lobby other agencies to commit land for the communities to have nursery beds and to plant trees and to raise money to develop and run a campaign in collaboration with National Forestry Authority on alternatives to charcoal.
Uganda BreweriesCorporate Relations Director, Charity Kiyembasaid they decided to invite other companies to join the campaign to pool more resources together and face the deforestation challenge.
“An average 122,000 hectares of forest cover is lost every year due to human activities. The Ministry of Water and environment has an ambitious goal of planting over 100 million trees by the end of next year. We recognize that as a company, it is going to take collaborative effort. This is why we are coming together to rally other corporate companies to lend their support to this noble cause.”.
The high profile and diverse runners will each cover 10 kilometres to make the 330 km distance to Gulu.
The event will take place during the day and overnight. Each runner may be accompanied by others but not one of the 33. The designated runners will plant trees at different spots along the way.
URN.
