SL, Rotary of Mantsopa collaborate to plant trees

THABISO NTAOTE

MASERU – A sustainable environment is key to the future survival of Lesotho and curbing droughts. Revenue Services Lesotho (RSL), Rotary of Mantsopa, with the help of the Ministry of Environment and Forestry (MEF), are determined to secure the future of the environment as demonstrated by their partnership which saw close to 5 000 trees being planted at Liphookoaneng in Berea district last Friday.

RSL led the event, supported by NUL, CAS, and Botho students, as well as Qiloane and Footprint, as part of an ongoing project of tree planting. Last year, RSL celebrated 20 years of service by planting 20 000 trees. The financial service organisation carried the plan forward to 2024, increasing the number of trees to 21 000. With this momentum, RSL’s plan is to continue increasing the number of trees by a thousand each year.

The Liphookoaneng community is the first annual destination for the environmentally friendly tree planting project. RSL aims to serve and bring back to the environment as it will in-turn take care of humanity. The remaining 16 000 trees will be planted in collaboration with other future partners by the end of September.

Public Eye spoke to Public Relations Manager at RSL, Tsepang Mncina, who said what is important above all is that the initiative empowers the community a lot because local farmers sell these indigenous trees to them through the Ministry of Environment and Forestry for as little as M3.00 each.

“Each tree costs us M3 from local farmers who also work hand in hand with the department of environment and forestry. The Ministry of Forestry recommends to us and provides us with local farmers’ details of the places they wish to plant trees at. Last year we planted 20 000 trees in different locations,” said Mncina.

“The rest 16 000 trees will be planted before September ends. This is an initiative towards a celebration of RSL Day, which is celebrated each year in September. All these events are heading towards this huge celebration,” she added.

Representative of Rotary Club of Mantsopa, Makhetha Mots’oari, who is Director of environment, highlighted that the aim is not just to plant trees. Instead, he said the joint partnership has planted a seed of hope, sustainability and a seed of a greener future.

“I plead with the Liphookoaneng community to take care and look fterout for this immense project that we have started. I would like to thank RSL for their approach to partner with us. We have other friends with us today from different places.

“We have youth from The National University of Lesotho (NUL), Centre for Accounting Studies (CAS), Botho University, Qiloane, and Footprints. These are the youth of Lesotho we have been working with in recent times including today, to propel the vision of the Rotary forward,” Mots’oari added.

“To plant these trees is a dream come true. When young people plant trees they contribute a lot to communities and that is a benefit for future generations to reap. Today’s gesture is a reflection of where we are heading. We want to fight against environmental threats and we are not ending at Liphookoaneng. I would like to thank the community at large who welcomed us sincerely and I believe we will transmit the reception we received to these trees we have planted here today.”

Bahlakoana Shelile, Deputy Commissioner – Compliance and Intelligence at RSL, said their journey started back in 2003 and in 2023, they celebrated 20 years of service. Shelile indicated that as RSL, they saw it fit to celebrate two decades by planting trees. For a visible impact, RSL decided to carry on with the project as an annual event.

“With the help of the local Chief, we were able to identify the suitable place to plant these trees. Not forgetting friends from the Rotary, students from different schools and the community at large. We ask all of you to keep working together to help one another in future projects,” Shelile said.

The Ministry of Environment and Forestry (MEF) in Berea District was represented by Mohale Monaheng, who emphasized the significance of environmental security in different ways.

“Planting trees is one way of securing our environment. We live in an era where the country and the world at large, is threatened by climate change due to excessive carbon emissions. It is very important to have more trees to absorb the amount of carbon present in the atmosphere to keep the balance of oxygen needed by us. For RSL to think environmentally is a huge step to channel communities to healthy lives,” said Monaheng

According Monaheng, the government has not been able to buy enough trees intended due to a reduced budget in different ministerial departments. Monaheng said his Ministry had been buying trees at a very disappointingly low rate. However, with the support of RSL, the Rotary of Mantsopa and all other partners, his department is willing to buy more trees to be planted by end of September.