Citizens of Eastern Equatoria State have been urged to restore the ecosystem and mitigate climate change effects by planting more trees.

This came during celebrations on the occasion of World Environment Day on Monday.

This year’s theme for World Environment Day focused on solutions to plastic pollution under the campaign #BeatPlasticPollution.

Addressing a crowd of citizens at Torit Freedom Square, Dr Anna Itwari, the director general at the state ministry of agriculture, tasked every home, school and institution to spearhead the plantation of trees to protect the environment.

 “I am charging the schools with this responsibility because the school belongs to the young ones. We are only custodians for now. The schools, I would love that you raise orchards you plant more fruits so that you can get the vitamins and minerals straight away. Planting wood logs that would give us economic value, you make environmental clubs so that you understand the use of the environment and maintain a clean environment”, Dr Itwari said

She added, “I charge you from today you plant 10 mangoes each student so that by the time you reach secondary, you will be getting 10,000 SSP per tree which is 100,000 SSP, so you will not disturb your parents because these trees you have planted will pay your school fees.”

Meanwhile, Mr Swokiri James, who works for Food and Agriculture Organization (FOA), said:  “In Eastern Equatoria State, the partners are contributing to this overall goal by supporting the state ministry to establish central tree nurseries at the county levels and also promoting community nurseries at the payams and boma levels.”

He added, “Today we want to plant trees, especially fruit trees and wood logs in our streets, institutions, homes, and schools to contribute to food security, nutrition and environment protection”.

Meanwhile, Torit Mayor Mustafa Albino Zachariah appealed to the government and policymakers to formulate environmental policies to protect the environment properly.

“Draw plans to educate and engage our school children to establish environmental clubs to help parents at home to know the importance of the environment. Draw plans for training youth on waste management, more especially on sorting categories of wastes, drying and dumping of waste skills and less charcoal consumption,” he said.