KUALA LUMPUR: Nestle Malaysia Bhd has planted 2.8 million trees through the ongoing Project RELeaf and the previously accomplished Project RiLeaf, in line with its goal to plant four million trees throughout Malaysia by 2025.
To further accelerate these efforts, Nestle Malaysia continued to carry out its annual nationwide tree planting event, where over 400 dedicated Nestlé Cares volunteers and representatives from partners Sime Darby Plantation and TDM Plantation, joined hands to plant a total of 5,000 trees in five locations across the nation.
This includes Kuala Selangor Nature Park; SDP North Labis, Johor, SDP Tiger Estate Tawau, Sabah; TDM Plantation, Terengganu; and Perlis State Forestry Department.
Its chief executive officer, Juan Aranols, said the company is proud of the progress it has made in it reforestation efforts.
Aranols said Nestle Malaysia is setting its sights on the planting of the remaining 1.2 million trees through Project RELeaf by the first half of 2025, contributing to its overarching target of four million trees.
"We would also like to express our gratitude to our esteemed partners Sime Darby Plantation, TDM Plantation, and the Malaysian Nature Society for their unwavering support in our reforestation initiative," he said.
Nestlé Malaysia's Project RELeaf is guided by the 3 "Rs" reforest, restore, and respect.
Through this project, the company aims to reforest wildlife corridors to connect fragmented forests to mitigate human-animal conflict and protect wildlife habitat, restore riparian buffer zones to minimize water contamination due to soil sediments and agricultural run-offs, and, importantly, respect and support the positive transformation of local communities.
Hand-in-hand with environmental stewardship, Project RELeaf also supports the livelihoods of local farmers and Orang Asli communities, particularly women, in both Kinabatangan, Sabah, and throughout Peninsular Malaysia.
This is achieved by providing training aimed at capacity building while enhancing their awareness of the importance of environmental conservation.
Among others, this includes activities such as planting and nurturing seedlings, overseeing their transfer to planting sites, and tending to the planted trees. To date, Nestlé Malaysia has engaged more than 90 local communities in seedling production and more than 120 local communities in tree planting.