Mass tree planting event this weekend
The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan and the Ahmadiyya Muslim Youth Association will plant more than 15,000 trees in Redbridge tomorrow.
The Forest Gate Recreation Ground will see a mass planting event from 10.15am on Saturday December 1 as part of the Mayor’s plant-a-thon, which will see up to 80,000 trees planted across the capital this weekend.
This is not the first time the AMYA have taken part in a planting initiative, last year they helped to plant 25,000 trees at the Recreation Ground.
Abdul Qudoos Arif, national youth leader for the AMYA, said: “We want to serve humankind at every given opportunity and that is why we are here once again to do our bit in planting a large number of trees.
“We find inspiration in the teachings of Islam which promote peace, tolerance and respect for the environment and the Holy prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) taught that planting trees is a noble act and worthy of God’s pleasure.”
The AMYA is part of the Charter of the Forest, an 800-year-old charter, signed two years after the Magna Carta, to help protect the nation’s forests and the organisation raised more than £1million last year to feed people living in poverty.
More than 30 volunteer planting events are due to take place this weekend, with trees finding new homes in private gardens, community spaces, schools and estates.
The Mayor’s Greener City Fund has pledged £12million to planting new trees across London with the goal of being confirmed as the world’s first National Park City next summer and expanding the eight million trees already in the capital.
Sadiq Khan said: “This initiative is really capturing the imagination and it is fantastic to know that there will be so many Londoners out in force this week planting trees across the city.”
The city’s trees provide an estimated £133million of benefits every year by removing pollution and reducing the amount of water running off into drains.
https://www.guardian-series.co.uk/news/17268515.mass-tree-planting-event-this-weekend/