The 2022 National Tree Planting Competition has been launched and the Ministry of Environment hopes to have over 100,000 being planted by the end of the initiative.
This announcement was made by Darwin Phillips, Coordinator of the National Tree Planting Project, during the official launch to this year’s competition on Monday at the National Botanical Gardens.
Phillips told media personnel that the ministry was aiming big this year, hoping to reach the halfway point of its 1 million tree drive by the end of 2022.
“With the interest that this tree planting competition is likely to generate, we in the Ministry of Environment and National Beautification are hopeful to realise the planting of over 100,000 trees throughout this competition. That speaks well to the 1 million trees drive, which we currently have just over 400,000… We are expecting before year-end to have half a million trees planted. That is quite an accomplishment.”
The competition with a prize purse of $25 000 will run from the 7th to the 21st of November. The first place entrant will receive $15,000; second place $5,000 and third place $3,000, with a bonus of $2,000 being available for the longest and best surviving trees by March 2023.
Minister of the Environment and National Beautification, Adrian Forde, encouraged all Barbadians to participate in the initiative this year.
“I am encouraging every single Barbadian, young and old, those in the dawn of their lives, to become active participants in this competition. This is an exciting competition, not only because there is a tangible stake, but the fact is, there is an invaluable realisation to the planting of trees.”
Interested persons can use the website www.weplantin.org for more information on the competition and to access sign-up forms. (SB)
