The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has started a campaign that will see thousands of trees planted in urban areas for the purpose of protecting the environment. The campaign, according to Antonio Querido, FAO’s country representative, will focus on making sure that cities and other urban areas are designed, and managed in a way that enhances the greening agenda.
Querido explained that living in green cities is healthier and provides a quality life to dwellers. , such that people who stay there have a healthier. Even for urban areas like Kampala that have been on for years, Querido said they will ensure the campaign is implemented within the existing designs and management style.
“As cities are becoming bigger, and with increasing pressure from rural-urban migrations, we have to plan differently. We need to rethink the way cities are designed, look at the challenges that we have and see how to address them through preplanning. We should also focus on how we deal with the waste in the cities,” Querido said today at the launch of the campaign.
In Uganda, FAO intends to reach over 100 cities, Municipalities, town councils, and other townships. The first target areas are Kampala, Soroti, Mbale, and Gulu. New cities are targeted because they are still in the planning stages since most of them started about three years ago.
Minsa Kabanda, the Minister for Kampala Metropolitan Area, said the initiative has come at a critical time and will make the city more habitable. Kabanda believes greening urban areas will improve the welfare of the people as they will be spending less on treating diseases associated with the destroyed environment.
“With such an initiative, the urban agriculture ecosystem will be enriched because of the trees that will be replanted, and Kampalans will have the chance of eating food direct from their gardens,” Kabanda said.
FAO’s environmental protection campaign in urban areas includes planting fruit trees instead of the usual trees which only provide shade. Dorren Nyajura, the deputy lord mayor for Kampala city, cast doubt about the progress of FAOs’ plan because all public places where such trees could have been planted have been grabbed by powerful individuals.
“If we are talking about a city that is inclusive, that is sustainable, then we must go for those so-called tycoons because they are the major contributors to the environmental destruction that we are currently witnessing in the city,” Nyanjura said.
Nyanjura added that without taming the political impunity, such initiatives would not thrive. This is not the first time the green city initiative is being promoted. It was started in three Kenyan cities.