Royal Van Zanten employees launch tree planting scheme in Uganda and South-Africa

MUKONO, Uganda: With its  ‘A tree for every employee’ campaign, Royal Van Zanten is putting its sustainability programme into action. Planting trees contributes to improving the carbon footprint and helps restore and rebuild nature and the environment.

The company’s employees put together Royal Van Zanten’s sustainability programme. To make their passion their legacy, employees are taking responsibility and putting it into action. The programme is based on the employees’ vision: ‘We care, so we act’. Improving the carbon footprint and restoring damage done to nature and the environment are at the foundation of this.

“We planted a tree for every employee in Uganda and my colleagues in South Africa did the same”, says Jamanda Bwambale of Royal Van Zanten Uganda. “That will grow into a total of up to 2 hectares of new forest in Uganda at our locations in Mukono and Wakiso.”

More than 700 colleagues in Uganda and 50 in South Africa have planted 20 different native and local trees that provide shelter and food for the native fauna. The coordination and tree selection was made with the company Chloroplast, affiliated with the National Forestry Authority for Uganda.

The list of planted trees includes Maesopsis eminii (Umbrella tree), Cordia Africana (Sudan teak), Neem, Mahogany, Prunus africana (African cherry), Warburgia ugandensis (Ugandan greenheart), Afzelia africana (African mahogany), Tectona grandis (Teak), Gmelina arborea, Terminalia superba (Limba), Bathedavia, Markhamia lutea (Nile tulip), Entandrophragma utile, Nagomola, Mango, Jackfruit, Avocado, Guave, Soursop, and Jambula tree.