Public, private and associative actors are mobilizing to green the mountains of Kabylie and the Aurès, ravaged by the terrible fires of summer 2021.
After the flames, it becomes green again. Several months after the terrible fires that ravaged Kabylia and the Aurès in the summer of 2021, it is time for reforestation. Various operations will be launched in this direction in the coming weeks.
Thus, on the occasion of the International Day of Forests, March 21, General Emballage (GE), the Algerian leader in the production of corrugated cardboard, is sponsoring a major reforestation operation at the Col de Tizi-N-Chrea, one of the summits of the Djurdjura massif, the true backbone of Kabylia.
The mountainous region in the north of the country was devastated in August by a series of deadly fires which caused dozens of deaths and burned thousands of hectares of forests, scrubland and orchards.
Just over 1,000 maple and cedar seedlings will be transplanted during the reforestation operation which will take place on March 18, organized in collaboration with the municipality of Ouzellaguen, the association SOS Environnement et Animaux, and the Directorate of forests of the wilaya of Béjaïa.
General Packing by maneuver
According to the initiators of the operation, the objective is to reinforce the vegetation cover, to fight against soil erosion and, ultimately, to generate a recreational forest. “A mesh fence will be erected to support the growth of the shrubs and to protect them against possible pastoral attacks”, specifies the press release from GE.
IN THE AURÈS, 10,000 HECTARES OF FOREST WENT UP IN SMOKE IN JULY 2021
This is not the first reforestation operation for the company, which has three production plants in the towns of Akbou, Oran and Sétif. Each year, GE organizes, finances or sponsors such operations in collaboration with the local associative fabric and seems to have sanctuarized the principle of an annual expenditure devoted to reforestation.
For its part, the SOS Environment and Animals Association has regularly distinguished itself through actions to protect the environment and biodiversity, restore ecosystems, and collect and protect stray animals.
GE thus intends to symbolically reinforce and highlight the “closed loop” pattern that characterizes the corrugated cardboard industry by returning to the Earth the fraction of raw material (sawdust) that comes from it.
For several years now, GE has acquired through its actions an image of a company concerned with the protection of the environment and the control of the impacts of its activities. Its three production sites are all equipped with treatment plants and infrastructures for the complete collection of production waste, as well as numerous technological equipment to combat noise and environmental pollution.
4,000 trees
At the same time, in Khenchela, 520 kilometers east of Algiers, a vast reforestation campaign has been launched in this wooded region of the Aurès which saw, in July, just over 10,000 hectares of forest ravaged by gigantic fires for a fortnight.
This reforestation program is financed by the National Rural Development Fund (FNDR). The objective of the campaign is to plant just over 1 million seedlings with the help of the forest services of the wilaya, youth groups and local ecological associations.
Since October 25, National Tree Day, more than 4,000 trees have already been planted in the localities of Tamza and Aïn Mimoun, which were at the heart of the disasters last summer.
To make the massifs devastated by the fires green again, local ecological associations and forest conservation organizations in Bejaïa, Tizi Ouzou and Khenchela have scheduled dozens of other reforestation operations until the end of spring.
