In a sweeping display of national unity and environmental commitment, Burkina Faso’s Ministry of Defense and Veterans Affairs took part in the 7th annual National Tree Day with the planting of approximately 600 trees in just one hour.
The initiative, dubbed the “Patriotic Hour to Green Faso,” is part of a country-wide effort to plant five million trees simultaneously across the nation.
Launched on Saturday, June 21, 2025, the operation took place in the capital, Ouagadougou, as military personnel, officials, and community members came together to combat desertification and promote ecological restoration.
The Ministry’s contribution included a diverse mix of species such as Néré, shea, acacia, and moringa—chosen for their ecological and medicinal value.
Colonel Major Salif Tingueri, who oversees the Ministry’s general secretariat, underscored the significance of the effort.
“This morning we are here to respond to the government’s order.
We are planting around 600 trees. With the Ministry of the Environment, we have agreed to combine this operation with our traditional reforestation,” he stated.
The Colonel Major emphasized that the Ministry has mobilized its decentralized structures to support reforestation efforts across the country, ensuring that tree planting becomes a sustained, institutionalized activity rather than a symbolic gesture.
“We are instructing our decentralized structures to carry out reforestation in response to the government’s instructions.
This means that we are capable of combining two things at once,” he explained.
Looking beyond the planting itself, Tingueri assured the public that a long-term care strategy is already in place.
“For maintenance, we have an efficient system at the ministry level.
Along with the grove, the ministry has an irrigation system for watering the trees.
There will be no worries about maintenance,” he added.
Community leaders also lent their voices to the event.
Naaba Kaongo, chief of Nagrin, was present at the ceremony and praised the initiative as a symbol of hope.
“A tree is synonymous with life. All we hope is for God to bring us peace. Thank you very much to the authorities.
I would like to thank them and our FDS,” he said, referring to Burkina Faso’s Defense and Security Forces.
The Ministry’s planting efforts included 500 seedlings at its headquarters and 100 at the military cultural center.
This year’s innovation—compressing the nationwide planting effort into a single “patriotic hour”—aims to spark a new wave of environmental awareness and civic engagement.
As Burkina Faso battles climate change and environmental degradation, such acts of coordinated patriotism may prove vital to the nation’s ecological resilience.
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