The President Major-General (Ret’d) Jioji Konrote hopes more women are involved in a national bid to plant four million trees in four years time.

This plea also includes the in­volvement of schools, youth, busi­ness sectors and development part­ners.

During the launch yesterday of the four million trees in four years initiative, Mr Konrote and Minister for Forestry Osea Naiqamu planted 14 trees at the State House. These 14 plants represented the 14 provinces in Fiji.

Mr Konrote said he was honoured to host and launch one of Fiji’s new and very important national priori­ties.

“I believe that in developing this initiative, Government has shown that it has visionary leadership to provide more sustainable resourc­es that will significantly benefit the communities that rely on the for­estry sector and benefit the nation as a whole,” Mr Konrote said.

“This is not only an initiative that reflects visionary leadership on the part of Government, but it also re­flects a deep sense of responsibili­ties that we could leave our beloved nation in a better state than when we found it.

“I have no doubt that the Minis­try of Forestry will reach out to as many stakeholders as humanly possible to help us achieve our na­tional goal.

“These will include the resource owners, women and youth groups, schools, the forestry and business sectors and both our international and domestic development part­ners, including the non-govern­mental organisations, among oth­ers.”

Mr Naiqamu said the initiative would include the planting of all kinds of trees from fruit trees, or­nament trees, trees for timber to non-wood species and mangroves.

“Apart from the four million trees, we also intend to plant not less than 500,000 mangroves over the next four years to protect our coastal ecosystems,” Mr Naiqamu said.

Edited by Percy Kean

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