This year's National Arbor Day, a day to celebrate trees - offering the opportunity for schoolchildren to plant trees - will take place on Monday, while the National Forest Work runs between Sunday and January 21.

The School Arbor Committee is organising a number of activities in a joint effort with schools to continue to raise awareness on Malta's forest cover and the need for tree and forest protection on our islands.

The main event will again be a tree-planting ceremony to be held at the Forest 2000 Project at Mellieha. This is the third time that trees will be planted by schools at this very large site and it will be a good opportunity to see how the previous two years' forest seedlings have faired. The School Arbor Committee is also organising a number of forest-related activities and walks during forest week.

The committee is encouraging students and teachers to participate in this nationwide forest awareness week, and schools to hold their own forest week activity during this month. This will allow all the students to participate in what is a pro-environment activity within the school premises.