Pupils from six schools recently planted 120 indigenous trees at Buskett, including carob, oak, olive, pine and bay laurel, as part of an event held to mark Arbor Day. The event was organised by the national stakeholders committee of a Lifeplus project entitled Saving Buskett on behalf of the Environment Ministry’s Parks directorate.
One of the highlights of the event was a tour around the unique and beautiful woodland. The pupils also took part in hands-on educational sessions led by experts on various aspects of the woodland, including forest fires, woodland lichens, identifying trees and measuring their age, girth and height, hunting for scavengers, plant pest control and the countryside code.
The trees planted will form part of a wider initiative of an international NGO – ENO – Environment Online, which is present in more than 150 countries through a virtual network of educators. ENO made a commitment at the 2012 UN Rio+20 Summit to plant 100 million trees by the end of 2017.
The Saving Buskett project started in July 2013 and is expected to be completed by May 2018. Now that it is at an advanced stage, visitors can already appreciate the meticulous work undertaken by personnel of the Parks directorate to carefully remove alien species, rebuild rubble walls and undertake reforestation by planting indigenous trees.
The project is co-financed by the EU Lifeplus funding programme
Schools interested in visiting the project may call Neville Ebejer on 7900 0966 or e-mail john-neville.ebejer@gov.mt.
For further information regarding the project, visit the website below.
http://lifesavingbuskett.org.mt
