The PanAfrican Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA) urges governments to heighten tree planting and take measures to protect and conserve existing forests to guard against greenhouse gas emissions.
In a statement released to mark the International Day of Forests, Mithika Mwenda, the executive Director of PACJA said deforestation poses danger to Africa. He added that the most critical phase in which the world is passing through is a complexity in the form of Climate Change.
The international day of forests is marked annually on March 21 to let the people know about the significance of trees. The theme for day in this year is “Forests and sustainable production and consumption.”
However, African forests have come under pressure in the recent past. The triple grabs – land, water and forests, human settlement and poor land use planning have alienated a big chunk of gazetted forests. In Kenya for example, about half of its forest cover were lost within two decades of 1980 and 2000 due to corruption and divesture from forestry, according to Global Forest Watch.
