Thousands of tree saplings are to be given away for free at forest parks and tourist attractions nationwide starting on Friday next week to celebrate Arbor Day next month, the Forestry Bureau said.
The bureau launched the tree planting campaign, with more 150,000 tree saplings being given away ahead of Arbor Day on March 12, to encourage tree planting as a response to deforestation and global warming.
Seedlings of camellia, sweet osmanthus and rhododendrons are to be distributed in urban areas, while camphor trees, Formosan michelia and Buddhist pines are to be given away in rural areas, Forestry Bureau Director Lee Tao-sheng (李桃生) said.
People who bring reusable bags and waste batteries for recycling will be given priority in receiving saplings.
“A total of 5,054 communities have taken part in the bureau’s greening efforts since 2003 when the Arbor Day celebration was expanded to a whole month, with local governments, schools, businesses and communities being invited to adopt trees during the ‘tree month,’” Lee said.
This year’s Arbor Day ceremony is to be held at the Military Academy in Taoyuan’s Bade District (八德), while exhibitions are to be displayed at the bureau’s eight forest parks.
The mascot of this year’s Arbor Day is a subspecies of white-backed woodpeckers that is endemic to Taiwan — the Picoides leucotos insularis, which lives in Hsuehshan, and is known for its Y-shaped black stripes on the side of its neck and a red crest, the bureau said, adding that the bird symbolizes Taiwan’s vivacity.
The Council of Agriculture has carried out an afforestation project since 2008 and has converted 30,714 hectares of land into forest, which translates into a 13.35m2 increase in green space for each citizen, Lee said.
According to the bureau’s latest survey, the nation’s forest coverage has increased to 60.7 percent from 58.3 percent in 1993, aided by the government’s afforestation and reforestation programs.
“Forests are key to producing timber and preserving water resources and biodiversity, as well as decarbonizing, so reforestation is important for Taiwan’s efforts to reduce carbon emissions and establish a carbon trading system,” Council of Agriculture Deputy Minister James Sha (沙志一) said.
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