According to the report presented by the government spokesperson and Minister of Communication and Media, Patrick Muyaya, Eve Bazaiba mentioned that 2,122 hectares have been reforested in 15 provinces due to an average of 100 hectares per province funded by the public treasury, and with the help of other stakeholders, a result of 89.4% or 894,082,425 trees have been planted to date out of the 1 billion trees announced.
This report also notes that nearly 196.6 million seedlings located in nurseries are on the verge of being planted in the ground. This will allow surpassing the milestone of a billion trees by December 5, 2023, during the celebration of the tree day as well as at the closing of the program with the symbolic planting of the billionth tree by the Head of State. Mrs. Bazaiba also informed about the creation by the DRC of a geo-referenced forest landscape restoration data bank housed at the Technical Directorate of Reforestation and Horticulture.
Moreover, an environmental issue expert, Bonaventure Bondo, has called this report a "State lie" because, he says, it is full of "false statistics" and as a result, no serious international actor will be able to take the Congolese government seriously. Launched on December 5, 2021, the school garden program for 1 billion trees by 2023 was adopted on August 14 of the same year by the government in the council of ministers and was supposed to be implemented in 26 provinces over a total area of 5 million hectares.
Cathy Ibandula