THE Forestry Commission (FC) and Glow Petroleum have established a partnership expected to add value to the National Tree Planting Programme that works towards reforestation around the country.
The partnership recently launched in Harare will see more than 20 schools across the country involved in the reforestation exercise.
Speaking during the Forestry Commission and Glow Petroleum Tree Planting Programme launch, Glow Petroleum’s managing director Aaron Chinhara said the assistance was part of his organisation’s corporate social responsibility.
“As an earner of profits coming from fuel products where there are carbons being emitted which destroy lives, we decided to get into a partnership with the Forestry Commission so that we give a little token since we are an indigenous company,” Chinhara said.
“For the next 10 years, Glow Petroleum will be giving
US$20 000 a year to the Forestry Commission to buy trees for schools so that we give back to our community and our children who are our inheritors to grow trees because they have a monetary value.
“Since we usually plant trees and forget about them, we will give another US$5 000 which will be used for competitions so that the school which nurtures the trees until they are five years can get value from them.
“We hope that the partnership with Forestry Commission exists for a long time.”
Glow Petroleum’s aim is to increase the participation of schools and school children in green initiatives and contribute to the increase in forest cover in the country to mitigate the effects of noise and air pollution, reducing the effects of global warming and climate change.
Glow Petroleum will, every year, adopt two schools per province and as the programme continues, involve more schools.
The schools will get 500 tree seedlings with 300 of these being eucalyptus, 100 indigenous and 100 fruit trees to establish a woodlot and an orchard which will act as demonstration plots for environmental studies.
To ensure sustainability, the two companies will continuously inspect the woodlots and orchards.
Trees contribute to the environment by providing oxygen, improving air quality, climate amelioration, conserving water, preserving soil and supporting wildlife.
They also provide shelter, food and medicines.
In an acceptance speech read by FC board chairperson Rose Mukogo on behalf of the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Environment, Water and Climate, Prince Mupazviriwo, the Ministry welcomed the partnership which he said boosts the national tree planting campaign.
“This initiative is indeed part of the greater tree planting programme being spearheaded by the Ministry,” she said.
“The tree planting exercise has a target of 15 million trees annually for the next five years and it also aims to plant five million fruit trees under the Command Agriculture programme spearheaded by the Ministry of Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development.
“We are happy that Glow Petroleum has taken the leading step ahead of all petroleum companies to take part in tree planting in this way.
“Fuel fumes and gases produced by vehicles need to be absorbed and trees are there to play that role by creating a sink for carbon dioxide.
“Through the catch-them-young concept, we are pleased that Glow Petroleum has targeted schools as its entry point and the Ministry is proud to have such a friend and collaborative partner.”
The availed funds are meant to support the planting of 10 000 trees in 20 schools across the country every year.
Selected schools to participate in the programme include Hama High School (Midlands), Mtshabezi High School (Matabeleland South), Sandringham High School (Mashonaland West), Gaza Secondary School (Manicaland), Kwenda High School (Mashonaland East), Daluka Primary School (Matabeleland North), Mbare High School (Harare) and Ross Camp Primary School (Bulawayo).
According to the FC, the country is losing thousands of hectares of tree cover as the majority of trees are being felled for domestic use with a sizeable chunk of them consumed by tobacco farmers whose numbers have phenomenally risen in the past few years 
Figures from the commission indicate that the national rate of deforestation currently stands at more than 300 000 hectares per annum, of which approximately 15 percent is attributable to tobacco production activities that include land clearing for tobacco farming and firewood for tobacco curing.