Jul 23 2009
Commanding Officer Lieutenant Colonel Um Bello, heads up the Alpha Company of the United Nations Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) which is working in the region of Kakata in western Liberia. On 8 July 2009, Um Bello led his troops in a new exercise: planting trees to contribute to the UNEP-led Billion Tree campaign.
"The war against global warming is both an individual and collective responsibility," Um Bello told the UN soldiers and dignitaries who had come to the launching of the tree planting drive. "As a contingent, we have resolved to join efforts with the international community; well-meaning organizations and individuals to ensure that the war is fought, won and our planet Earth is saved," he added as his troops planted trees and pledged to plant another 700 before the end of the year.
Trees are critical in the fight against climate change. The loss of natural forests around the world is contributing more to global emissions each year than the transport sector. Trees, which absorb carbon dioxide and store nearly 300 Gigatonnes of carbon in their biomass alone, are a crucial factor in the global environmental battle. They help conserve soil and water, control avalanches, prevent desertification, protect coastal areas and they house up to 90 percent of known terrestrial species.
The Alpha Company will have planted a total of 1,000 trees by December 2009, 300 of which they will plant when they return to the base camp in the Sobi barracks in Kwara State in Nigeria. "Tree planting has been identified as one of the weapons with which we can combat global warming and other forms of environmental degradation. It is therefore, against this backdrop, that we are gathered here today to ensure that trees are planted in their millions as a solution to global warming," said Lieutenant Colonel Um Bello.