Stanbic Bank Uganda has partnered with Uganda Breweries Limited (UBL) in a new awareness campaign against deforestation by encouraging the public to plant trees to foster sustainable development and save the environment.
As part of the ROOT (Running Out of Trees) Campaign, Stanbic staff will take part in a marathon relay from Kampala to Gulu involving other companies,to highlight the dangers of deforestation.
The two-day 330 km run will take place on 7th and 8th February 2020 and will be followed by a National Day of Tree Planting in April 2020 under the theme ’40 million Trees in 8 hrs’. It is hoped every Ugandan will plant and grow at least one tree. In the run, 33 influential runners; both professional runners and volunteers from corporate companies will participate.
Speaking during the partnership announcement, Stanbic Bank Uganda Corporate Social Investments Manager, Ms Barbara Kasekende said, “At Stanbic Bank, we believe in doing the right business the right way. Stanbic’s sustainability vision focuses on Social, Economic and Environmental (SEE) goals, where we aim to ensure we create shared value in the societies and environment in which we operate. The ROOT Campaign speaks to Stanbic’s environment ambitions and our aim is to contribute to restoring and promoting tree planting in Uganda for sustainable development.”
She further said, “Stanbic will join UBL in the ROOT Campaign by planting trees in the over 200 schools as part of our Corporate Social Investment priorities.”
She said they are joining UBL through this initiative to create more awareness about the importance of planting trees and also lobby other agencies to commit land for the communities to have nursery beds and to plant trees and to raise money to develop and run a campaign in collaboration with NFA on alternatives to charcoal.
Speaking partnership press briefing, Mrs. Charity Kiyemba – Corporate Relations Director UBL said they decided to invite other companies to join the campaign to pool more resources together and face the challenge.An average 122,000 hectares of forest cover is lost every year due to human activities. The Ministry of Water and environment has an ambitious goal of planting over 100 million trees by the end of next year. We recognize that as a company, it is going to take collaborative effort. This is why we are coming together to rally other corporate companies to lend their support to this noble cause.” he said.
The high profile and diverse runners will each cover 10 kilometres to make the 330 km distance to Gulu. The event will take place during the day and over night. Each runner may be accompanied by others but not one of the 33. The designated runners will plant trees at different spots along the way.
