The ecological gesture of planting a tree will soon no longer be optional in Senegal. The President of the Republic has recently announced a bill to this effect. For the government, it is a question of accelerating reforestation in order to preserve the environment. The Senegalese government wants to expand reforestation throughout the country. The construction of housing and public buildings will soon be subject to the obligation to afforest. This year’s National Tree Day in Senegal had as its mascot the baobab tree, whose scientific name is adansonia digitata. To illustrate the choice of this tree, President Macky Sall symbolically planted a young baobab seedling at the esplanade of the Abdou Diouf de Diamniadio International Conference Centre. In this West African country, the baobab tree is considered a historical and emblematic symbol. It is associated with symbols evoking life and death: while their leaves are used to make medicinal herbal teas and their fruit for decoctions for newborns, the baobab bark has long served as a shroud for griots. And yet the baobabs of Senegal are now faced with uncontrolled urbanisation and industrial activity that threaten their survival.
SOURCE: AFRIK 21
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