IJM employees plant 1,000 mangrove saplings

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SANDAKAN: IJM Group marked the sixth edition of its annual Give Day Out (GDO) with 110 employees signing up to contribute towards a greener environment.

The staff successfully planted 1,000 mangrove saplings at Tandawan, Elopura Forest Reserves recently, with the guidance and support from the Sabah Forestry Department.

The planting site was at an ex-encroachment area that needed to be rehabilitated to prevent river bank erosion and to enhance the mangrove ecosystem in the area.

IJM Give Day Out (GDO) is an annual event organised by the IJM Group, aimed at encouraging its employees to give back to the community. The employees would volunteer to reach out to the community on the first Saturday of December every year, since year 2010.

Last year, the GDO theme was ‘Play-A-Playground’ when IJM volunteers successfully gave a face lift to the Datuk Chong Tain Vun Memorial Park at Trig Hill, Sandakan, where the park’s facilities were restored and enhanced with new coats of paint.

Inspired by this year’s theme ‘Fun with Nature’, the collaborative effort between IJM and Sabah Forestry Department on mangrove tree planting was initiated, and this will be the inaugural planting of the two-year mangrove planting programme.

Mangrove forests are important to the ecosystem and are home to a large variety of marine life.

“We wish to send a message to our employees that volunteering spirit is part of the IJM culture and we are very pleased to see that our people are able to contribute to the environment.

“It also offers town-dwellers an opportunity to better appreciate nature and enhance the esprit de corp of the organisation,” said Joseph Tek, CEO and managing director of IJM Plantations Berhad.

In addition to tree planting and conservation related initiatives, the Group is also focused on other CSR outreach – covering youth sports development through rugby, breast health awareness and promoting cultural heritage.