LUSAKA, Dec. 12 (Xinhua) -- The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), in partnership with a local bank, on Tuesday commenced the planting of 10,000 trees at the source of the Zambezi River, one of the country's largest rivers.
The partnership with Stanbic Bank Zambia to plant trees at the source of Africa's fourth longest river in the Ikelenge district in northwestern Zambia was a continuation of the "Let's Secure the Zambezi" campaign which has been running for the past two years to tackle the devastating effect of climate change.
Nachilala Nkombo, the WWF country director, said the organization was happy to partner with Stanbic to secure one of the country's most precious water sources.
"As WWF, we believe that thriving ecosystems are important in terms of facilitating prosperous and thriving communities. Before we started this joint initiative, the spotlight on the source of the Zambezi was quite limited," she said at a ceremony to start the tree planting exercise, according to a release.
Ministry of Tourism Permanent Secretary Evans Muhanga hailed the two partners for helping restore the ecosystem which has been partly damaged due to deforestation and human encroachment.
"Today, we are all gathered here to witness the commencement of the tree planting exercise aimed at securing this important national heritage -- the source of the Zambezi River," he said.
Stanbic Bank Zambia Chief Executive Officer Mwindwa Siakalima said there was a need to intensify efforts to limit the rate of deforestation to address climate change.
He also said there was a need for more stakeholders to be involved in restoring the ecosystem around the Zambezi River source area that had been lost and damaged through increased deforestation in recent years.
According to him, the planting of the 10,000 trees was part of the bank's ongoing efforts to tackle the devastating effects of climate change.
