Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) through the Faculty of Tropical Forestry (FPT) organised the International Forest Day Celebration to raise public awareness of the importance of forest preservation and conservation.

According to UMS Vice Chancellor, Prof. Datuk Dr Kasim Hj. Mansor, the celebration of International Forest Day is an annual programme declared by the United Nations (UN).

"It started in 2012 and is celebrated every March 21 by 20 countries around the world.

"The programme aims to make the whole community aware of the importance of forestry, its preservation and conservation for the well-being and stability of the environment," he said.

Kasim said the first UMS-level International Forest Day celebration was held on 22 June 2022 and this year is the second celebration, organised by FPT.

"For this programme, the chosen theme is 'Forests and Health', which coincides with the wishes and aspirations of the people regarding the roe of forests and the importance of forests that give us many benefits for our health.

"Therefore, in conjunction with International Forest Day today, we aim to plant 200 trees," he said during the opening ceremony of the International Day of Forests, on Tuesday.

He added that to achieve the UMS target of 200,000 trees by 2025, several activities will continue.

"On this day, all 160 new students in the first year of FPT will plant one tree per student and will be named MYTREE.

"In addition to the tree planting activity, various activities have been organized over the course of three days starting today including the Adjunct Professor's Keynote Lecture, Knowledge Sharing by Strategic Partners and interesting activities involving various age groups, " he explained.

At the ceremony, a memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed between UMS and the Sabah State Forestry Development Board (Safoda). Also present the General Managr of Safoda , Barul Razha Chuprat; UMS Registrar, Luqman Ridha Anwar; CEO of Jawala Plantation Industries Sdn Bhd, Abdul Rahman Khan Hakim Khan ; Safoda Research and Development Division Manager, Fiona Evelyn Anthony and FPT Dean , Associate Professor Dr. Normah Awang Besar @ Raffie.