Belarus’ NOC, athletes, sport veterans join tree planting campaign

With the arrival of spring sunny days, the nationwide campaign Planting a Forest Together is gaining momentum. Employees of enterprises and organizations from all over the country help preserve and expand one of the most valuable assets of our country - a forest.


Representatives of the National Olympic Committee (NOC) of the Republic of Belarus, the sports community, including Tokyo Olympics bronze medalist Maksim Nedasekau, champion of the 2015 and 2019 European Games in women's wrestling Vasilisa Marzaliuk, Super League medalists, participants of the World and European championships in beach soccer Vadzim Bokach and Yury Piatrouski, biathlon medalist Alexei Aidarov, chairman of the Belarusian Wrestling Federation Alim Selimov, winner of the World and European championships in rhythmic gymnastics Anastasiia Salos joined the campaign run in Logoisk District on 10 April. Outstanding athletes and sport veterans planted saplings on the area of more than 1.2 hectares.

“We invite both sport veterans and young athletes to take part in the campaign. This year beach soccer athletes have joined in. Everyone worked with pleasure and were fast to fulfill the task. The forest feeds our Belarus, so it is necessary to take care of it, to do our best to keep this wealth for our children and grandchildren,” Belarus’ NOC Vice President Dzmitry Dauhalionak said.



“Sport veterans are often eager to take part in such useful initiatives. For example, the Games champions planted an excellent garden near the Olympiyski Sports Center in Minsk. Reforestation is an important initiative. It will be hard for us to live without this natural resource. The more we help in renewing the forest, the better it is for the country,” First Deputy Chairman of the Belarusian Public Association “Veterans of Physical Education and Sport” Leonid Khramenkov said.

“I would compare tree planting with training of young athletes. Today we were told that it would take seven years for a sapling to grow into a one-meter tree. The same is true about sports, it takes eight to ten years to bring up a high-class athlete. I really want to come back here one day and find boletes under these trees. I would be really happy then,” Chairman of the Belarusian Athletics Federation Ivan Tsikhan said.



“This is the third time I am taking part in the campaign. I willingly join such initiatives, although I am not a fan of gardening. Yet, I plant trees with pleasure. This little sapling will become one meter high only in seven years. This means that it is necessary to protect nature, take care of our forests and help with their preservation,” Vasilisa Marzaliuk said.



“The most important thing in all sorts of nationwide campaigns is that we do this for ourselves, for our society and we should take care of our country. Forests occupy a significant part of our beautiful Belarus,” Tokyo Games bronze medalist Maksim Nedasekau said.



“The weather is great and I am pleased to do my part in renewing the forest. Every person in Belarus should plant a tree. If you compare it with our trainings, I must admit it is not so hard to do,” Yury Piatrouski, a player of the Belarusian national beach soccer team, said.

“It is for the first time that I have been invited to take part in the campaign to help nature, renew our forest. This is done for the good, it helps the environment and it is also a sort of a workout: fresh air, stretching, digging. For me, it is a good experience. I hope we did everything right and in the future there will be a big and beautiful forest here,” Anastasiia Salos said.

Planting a Forest Together 2024 campaign is running from 23 March to 20 April. Its 17th edition is dedicated to the Year of Quality, which prioritizes careful and thoughtful attitude to resources, personal responsibility of citizens and the desire to create for the common good.

The main goals of the campaign are to reforest areas, attract public attention to the national tasks of strengthening the ecological, economic and social role of forests.

State authorities and public associations take an active part in the campaign. The National Olympic Committee of Belarus join the event every year.

Press service of the NOC of Belarus
Photos by the NOC of Belarus