To commemorate the Social Forestry Day, Bhutan Ecological Society signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to beautify sports venues with Bhutan Olympics Committee (BOC) today. The event was marked with the planting of fruit tree saplings at the skate park in Bebena, Thimphu today.
Under the MoU, similar saplings will be planted in football fields and other open spaces managed by BOC in the country.
Speaking to BBS, the Program Lead of the society, Pem Lama, said that the MoU is expected to involve young people in understanding and living with nature. “We feel that through sports, BoC is already trying to bring active lifestyles to the young people but through this collaboration, we can encourage young people to be involved with nature.”
This is first such collaboration with BOC since the inception of fruits for all initiative in 2018 by the Bhutan Ecological Society. The initiative was started to nurture green public spaces in urban areas.
The Society has so far collaborated with local governments and schools in Thimphu, Wangdue Phodrang and Tsirang and planted over 1,000 fruit-bearing plants.
Pem Lama said that they choose fruit trees as it is more interactive with the environment and also because fruit trees can enhance bird and insect diversity in urban areas.
“We really feel it is important not just to build structures but also incorporate a lot of green elements in places we live. Our main objective is to bring people closer to the environment and the way we want to do it is through the planting of fruit trees,” said Pem Lama.
Kinley Dem
