Zrenjanin - December 7th, 2023 - Today Schneider Electric, Serbia Business Run and the Ana and Vlade Divac Foundation showed great initiative and plated 2000 trees on the occasion of the “Race For Forests“ action, with the aim that over the next 5 years, with the help of socially responsible companies and the support of runners, they will plant as many new trees as possible throughout Serbia.
Last year's planting was aimed at the City of Belgrade with 250 trees being planted, and the plan for the coming years is to afforest as many locations as possible throughout Serbia through the motto one runner - one tree, as a contribution of runners in the fight against climate change. This year they will be planted in the city of Zrenjanin, together with 50 of the most responsible companies we managed to collect funds for the purchase of 2,000 trees.
"Among the numerous projects and activities for environmental protection, greening and afforestation are very important to us, precisely for the reason that Vojvodina is among the parts of Serbia and Europe with a low degree of afforestation. We are trying to change that in this way, by planting windbreaks, renovating parks and picnic areas, and thanks to all today's donors, Zrenjanin will get 2,000 new trees," said Saša Santovac, deputy mayor of Zrenjanin.
This year, the company that purchased the largest number of trees was Schneider Electric with 550 trees purchased in total. With this, all today's donors contributed to the construction of the lungs of our country.
"Today we are gathered in Zrenjanin to proudly plant as many as 2,000 new trees, thereby building a sustainable future together. This impressive initiative is not only the result of joint efforts, but also the result of the generosity of more than 50 companies that supported this action," said Ana Koeshall, director of the Ana and Vlade Divac Foundation.
"We succeeded! For the second year in a row, we are planting the Serbia Business Run forest with the most responsible companies in Serbia. This is no longer CO2 offsetting after our events, but has grown into reforestation of the most vulnerable parts of our country. Here in Zrenjanin, we planted 2,000 trees, and next year we expect an even greater response from companies," said the director of Serbia Business Run, Veroljub Zmijanac.
Serbia has the lowest percentage of forest cover among the surrounding countries, and the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, with less than 7% of the area covered by forests, represents the area with the lowest degree of forest coverage both in Serbia and in Europe. In order to improve the current situation, the set goal is to cover 14% of Vojvodina under forest, that is, another 150,000 hectares of land.