by Laura Ranca

29 May 2009

Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo: On 29 May, in recognition of World Environment Day celebrated on 5 June 2009, the UNV support team from the United Nations Organization Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUC) planted several indigenous trees in the green areas of Congo Batiment in Kinshasa.

The UNV Programme Manager and his team based in Kinshasa joined other MONUC sections that dedicated their Friday morning to an ongoing tree-planting campaign. For a while, shovels and watering-cans replaced paper files and computers, and the UNV support team members worked together to make Kinshasa and their work premises a greener place.

The UNV action on 29 May took place in support of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)-led tree-planting campaign, which aims to plant seven billion trees (one for each person on earth) by the end of 2009.

In light of this initiative, all MONUC offices and staff were encouraged to participate in the campaign by submitting pledges to plant trees in their areas of operation. MONUC’s UNV Support Unit will make sure that such actions will be repeated throughout 2009 and beyond, and more UNV volunteers will be actively engaged.

For more information on the Billion Tree campaign, visit the UNEP website:  www.unep.org/billiontreecampaign