“Someone is sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.” Warren Buffett
Is it because Haramaya University considers such a wonderful idea?
In a campaign Haramaya University conducted on July 21st, 2022, the University and local community planted approximately 20,000 seedlings of various species in the campus and Ganda Sharo Mountain, Damota kebele.
In this campaign, all the vice presidents of the university, teachers and other staff, as well as the local residents, have participated.
On the occasion, Prof. Mengistu Urge, Vice President of Academic Affairs, said more than 400,000 seedlings of different species adapted to the local climate have been prepared at the university for the fourth Green Legacy Program.
Prof. Mengistu added that the work of mobilizing the community to plant and approve seedlings, as well as protecting and caring for them, has made it possible for the approval rate to increase from time to time.
In the same way, Mr. Dine Rashid, Coordinator of the Haramaya Lake Basin Development Project, said that the University prepared nearly four hundred-thousand (400,000) forest seedlings, fruits, forage, decorative, and medicinal seedlings to plant in the watershed to support soil and water conservation activities undergoing in the watershed area with biological means.
Starting from July 10th, around two hundred fifty-thousand (250,000) forest seedlings have been transported to the plantation sites in a given watershed (upper stream degraded hilly areas) and planted by local communities in collaboration with the Haramaya district Agricultural office. The remaining seedlings of fruits, forage, medicinal, and decorative plants were distributed to farmers and local communities and planted in the main campus of Haramaya University and local primary and secondary schools.
Totally, Haramaya University has planted more than 1.2 million trees in the green legacy program carried out over the past three years.
Dr. Yisak Yusuf, the University’s Vice President of Community Engagement and Enterprise Development, said that the university has made a significant contribution to the restoration of local natural resources, including Lake Haramaya, by carrying out environmental protection works in the mountains and other places in the area. This planting seedling is one among other environmental protection work the university does, according to Dr. Yisak Yusuf.This environmental protection effort of the university has been showing its fruits.
Concerning this, the university and the local community who participated in a survey pointed out that planting seedlings in the area has reduced the risk of flooding and soil erosion in the past.
Mrs. Kimia Yuya, a resident of Damota rural kebele, said that Haramaya University has planted various tree species in the past years and taught us a lot to protect our areas as we saw the benefits with our own eyes. Moreover, following the recovery of the area and the growth of grass and trees, wild animals such as deer and tigers displaced have returned, and springs have developed.
By:- Shemsedin Mohammed
photographers:- Fuad Ahmed & Tewdiros Lishan
HU PIRD