Nkhotakota District Council plans to plant over 1.5 million trees this season and has put in place strategies to increase tree survival rate.

The council’s chairperson Wanangwa Harawa said this on Thursday on the sidelines of a tree-planting exercise at Pendwe Village, Traditional Authority Mphonde in the district.

He said area development committees and other community structures will this year monitor and look after the trees.

A pupil plants a tree during the launch

“We have been planting trees, but many do not survive. So, we need to change the way we do things and find ways to take care of the trees,” said Harawa.

However, he bemoaned high level of deforestation in the district and said planting trees was the best strategy to avert the effects of climate change.

Nkhotakota district forestry officer George Zibophe said there was an urgent need to address deforestation.

“The United Nations Development Programme has supported this year’s tree-planting exercise and we have put in place incentives to encourage people to plant more trees,” he said.

One of the community members, Grace Phiri, who participated in the exercise, said it was good to plant trees because they help people in many ways.

“As a woman we need firewood and currently, we walk a long distance to fetch firewood,” she said.

Phiri pledged to plant 40 trees this year and urged fellow community members to do the same to mitigate the effects of climate change such as droughts and floods.

This year’s theme for Nkhotakota is “Healthy Trees, Forests, Economy and People”.

According to Zibophe, the district’s five constituencies will launch their own tree-planting exercises.

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