Sir,
Our forests are under threat from people who are careless with our heritage.
Never cut down a tree in a natural forest and do not remove an animal or living plant without permission. Explain to others the importance of protecting our natural places. Many places in the country are barren and lifeless because they do not have trees, gardens or plants. In the past, trees were not planted in township areas while suburbs have usually had trees growing for many years.
Plant
We have to plant trees in every town, city and school in the country. We need to plant a tree with every new home. We need to ensure that every clinic has trees. You can help by planting trees at home or working with your school, church, or local government to plant trees. Integrating fruit trees in your food garden can address household food security. Remember we are a water-scarce country, so use methods that conserve water to irrigate your trees.
It is now well known that the global climate is changing and that it is likely to continue changing for many years to come.
Pollution
Climate change brings about unusual weather, droughts, floods, melting of the permanent ice of the north and south poles, as well as rising ocean levels. All this is the result of air pollution caused by human activities. One of the main pollutants responsible for this phenomenon is the greenhouse gas Carbon Dioxide (CO2). Greenhouse gasses have the ability to trap the sun’s heat in the atmosphere and prevent the earth from cooling down.
Green plants are a vital defence against climate change because they have the natural ability to remove CO2 from the atmosphere and store the carbon as biomass. Trees are especially valuable because they produce wood, in which large quantities of carbon is locked up for many years. To put this into perspective; one hectare of forest growing at the rate of producing 10m3 of wood per year will be removing carbon to the equivalent of 14 million m3 of air. One can visualise this as a column of air 1.4km deep over an area of forest the size of two soccer fields.
Grow
Do keep in mind that trees do not all grow equally fast, and all forests are not equally productive as carbon sinks. Trees in urban environments and commercial forestry plantations are generally quite fast growing and are therefore active carbon sinks. Under favourable conditions some plantations can achieve average annual growth rates of 20m3 per hectare.
