Stanbic Bank has partnered with Roofings Group in a tree planting initiative dubbed ‘Forever Forestry Initiative’ countrywide.
In a press release to journalists on Monday, Stanbic Bank Uganda’s Corporate Social Investments Manager, Ms Barbara Kasekende, said that the initiative will see the two entities plant more than 15,000 trees in more than 200 schools across the country.
Through the bank’s Social Corporate Investment (CSI) flagship programme, ‘Stanbic National Schools Championship’ the two entities aim to protecting and conserving the environment.
The ‘Forever Forestry’ initiative with the tagline ‘A seed today, A forest tomorrow’ is a flagship CSI initiative of Roofings Group housed on an acre of land with a dedicated team that has the capacity to produce up to 1,000 seedlings a day.
Announcing the partnership, Ms Kasekende said that the bank had tailored its CSI arm to focus on sustainability and environment transformation across its projects.
“The bank’s Corporate Social Investment projects are to foster sustainability within communities with a focus on Social, Economic and Environmental (SEE) goals as we seek to ensure shared value in societies and the environment in which we operate. Promoting tree planting is one such initiative which seeks to promote conservation of the environment through the Forever Forestry Initiative,” she said.
“We believe the youth demographic as the majority in our nation and communities can be used to create impact through environmentally friendly projects such as tree planting with a hope to groom them into responsible citizens in their various communities who know the value of environmental conservation. I am happy to state out of the targeted 15,000 trees, we have so far planted 4,000 trees and will continue to do so until the target is completed,” she added.
Roofings Group contributed seedlings worth Shs60m to enforce the re-greening project across Uganda through schools.
Ms Nashila Lalani, the Executive Director Roofings Group said deforestation statics are alarming.
According to recent studies conducted by Africa Natural Resources Institute, forest cover loss has now increased to an estimated 200,000 hectares annually an estimated equivalent of 500,000 acres of land.
She said it has become apparent through research that there is need for an immediate and combined course of action to save the environment.
“Roofings Group is passionately driven towards protection and conservation of the environment through its Forever Forestry Initiative. The name doesn’t leave any secret to the explanation. We want our beautiful forests to thrive,” she added.
Ms Nashila added: “Roofings Group’s strong partnership with Stanbic Bank gives us the opportunity to reach a vast majority of the community across the country through our contribution of 15,000 seedlings worth Shs60m. We are, therefore, facilitating the Stanbic National Schools Championship programme in re-greening hundreds of schools which in turn provides environment stability.”
Recently, Stanbic also partnered with UBL on the ROOT campaign to create awareness on tree planting to fight deforestation in a bid to foster sustainable development and save the environment.
“Sustaining our environment is a priority for us and we do not take these partnerships lightly. Engaging the youth and making them part of these initiatives will certainly take us one step farther to enforcing shared responsibility.” Ms Kasekende concluded.
