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• Press Release
• 23/9/2008

PRESS RELEASE                                                                           22nd September 2008

 Over 6 million Seedlings set for Plantation in Uganda & Mozambique this Year

The New Forests Company is rapidly emerging as one of Africa’s largest tree planting companies.   The UK-based company announced today that it had scaled up its planting target for 2008 to reach more than 9,000 acres of new afforestation.

As part of its ongoing forest regeneration and protection work in Uganda and Mozambique, The New Forests Company will be planting  2.76 million pine and eucalyptus seedlings   (Pinus Caribaea var Hondurensis and Eucalyptus Grandis), in Uganda this month. Around 1.6 million seedlings of the same variants will planted in Mozambique in November and December bringing the total number of trees planted this year to around six million.

The 2008 planting figures will bring the company’s total planted area in the past three years to almost 17,000 acres. The company expects to plant a further 11,000 acres next year.

In addition to pine and eucalyptus the company also promotes the re-colonization of natural vegetation and biodiversity through planting indigenous species like Albizia, Tectonic and Prunus African in the remaining natural and riparian forests, as part of its commitment to conservation. Initially sown in nurseries in springtime and cared for by local staff in the two countries, the trees will eventually supply sawn timber and building and transmission poles.

The nursery in Uganda is staffed by 140 people and is the largest forestry nursery in the country, with The New Forests Company recognised as Uganda’s biggest tree planter and sustainable forestry company with 54,000 acres of forestry land.  By the end of this year, 15,000 acres of pine and eucalyptus will be planted there.

Marginally smaller, the nursery in Mozambique is supported by around 80 staff.

This is another example of how The New Forests Company's sustainable forest regeneration and development gives communities employment opportunities and self-sufficiency.

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