CHERATING, PAHANG, 13 May 2023 – With the target to plant 300,000 mangrove trees by 2023 under the UMW Green Shoots (“UGS”) Initiative, the UMW Group continued with its tree planting activities in Cherating, Kuantan. In collaboration with UMW Toyota Motor and UMW’s associate company, Perodua, the UGS Initiative is one of the Group’s efforts to offset its greenhouse gas (“GHG”) emissions. The initiative also reinforces the Group’s commitment towards addressing environmental sustainability and supports the Malaysian government’s mission to achieve 100% carbon neutrality by 2050 under the 12th Malaysia Plan – which is also the UMW Group’s pledge under its Sustainability Roadmap.
The mangrove trees planting event in Cherating today involved close to 200 participants from Universiti Malaysia Pahang (“UMP”), which includes the management personnel, the UMP Foundation Board of Trustees, staff and student volunteers as well as 30 UMW personnel based in Kuantan. They were led by Tan Sri Dato’ Sri Dr. Abdul Aziz Abdul Rahman, Chairman of the UMP Board as well as the Board of Trustees, Dato’ Abdul Rashid Musa, Chief Mobility & Innovation Officer / President, Aerospace Division, UMW Holdings Berhad as well as Prof. Dato’ Ts. Dr Yuserrie Zainuddin, Vice Chancellor of UMP.
According to Dato’ Abdul Rashid Musa, 2,000 mangrove trees were successfully planted in Pusat Kelip-Kelip Cherating today, adding to the 2,600 mangrove trees previously planted in Cherating under the UGS Initiative in 2022. He added, “We are pleased to have UMP to join us today, to further add to the country’s green cover. While the UMW Group has been organising tree planting activities over the years, we are scaling up our efforts through the UGS Initiative, focusing on mangrove trees. As at end March 2023, we have successfully planted 195,200 mangrove trees throughout Malaysia. Based on that, we are on track to plant 300,000 mangrove trees by the end of 2023. We have chosen to drive this initiative through UGS as mangrove forests are known for their high carbon-sequestration efficiency and are critical to the country’s ecosystem. This initiative is also in line with the Malaysian Government’s National 100 million Tree-Planting Campaign 2021 – 2025.”
He further added, “Mangrove trees are critical to our ecosystem because they also protect the coast from erosion, storms, threats of climate change and help the reproduction of marine life. Mangrove trees are also capable of absorbing atmospheric carbon more than five times per hectare compared with tropical forests.”
Meanwhile, Tan Sri Dato’ Sri Dr. Abdul Aziz remarked, “The UGS Initiative in Cherating today demonstrates the commitment of UMW and UMP towards sustainable development and protection of the environment.” He hoped that this initiative will inspire individuals to protect and preserve the environment by implementing various projects including tree planting, green conservation, recycling and environmental education. He added that UMP is actively implementing programs focusing on the 17 goals outlined in the Sustainable Development Goals (“SDG”) by the United Nations.
“The UGS Initiative is consistent with UMP’s desire to not only include the university students but also the local community to jointly implement various sustainability initiatives as well as creating awareness on the importance of preserving the environment to overcome climate change issues,” added Tan Sri Dato’ Sri Dr. Abdul Aziz.