Nature Trust is calling on the government to stop importing trees for its projects and instead use indigenous ones.

In a statement issued to mark the International Day of Forests today, it urged the government to “acquire a sense of pride” in the country’s biodiversity by using local species in its landscaping projects and avoid the importation of foreign trees.

“Not only will expenses be reduced but the local biodiversity will also be improved and the risk of importing pests due to foreign trees eliminated,” Nature Trust said.

It “strongly” encouraged the government, organisations and other agencies to raise awareness about the local, indigenous species of trees.

Nature Trust also called on the government to “stop removing trees for its projects, strongly consider the integration of existing trees in new projects and start focusing seriously on afforestation projects”.

It wondered why an afforestation report commissioned by the Environment Ministry had not been published notwithstanding reports that it was meant to be submitted by mid-October 2014. No updates were made public five months on, it noted.