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The official celebrations of the World Tree Day took place
for the first time in the American state of Nebraska, in
1872. John Stirling Morton was able to convince the whole
population to devote one day of the year to the orderly
planting of various trees in order to solve the problem of
the scarcity of wood.
The Tree Festival rapidly expanded to almost all countries
in the world, and was celebrated for the first time in
Portugal on March 9, 1913.
Following a proposal by the European Confederation of
Agriculture which was well accepted by FAO (Food and
Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations), World
Forestry Day was established in 1971, with the aim of
making people aware of the importance of the forest for
maintaining life on Earth.
On 21st March 1972 – the beginning of Spring in the
Northern Hemisphere –the first World Forestry Day was
celebrated in various countries, including Portugal.
As usual, the Sintra Town Council has associated itself
with this celebration. This year, it has decided to give
voice to youth, those who will be the next generation of
adults, with the aim of increasing environmental awareness.
Schools, while learning spaces, will mark this day with
activities that will try to focus on trees and ecological survival.
Many schools in Sintra have associated themselves
with the celebrations of the World Tree and Forestry Day,
and the activities to be carried out will include: plantation
of trees and plants, exhibition/sale of plants and flowers,
exhibition of works by school children, readings, building
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of trees with recycled material, creation of a “Poetry
Tree”, creation of a collective panel with reusable materials,
a “Green Poem” contest, a “One book , one tree”
campaign, cleaning up the Mucifal woods, a picnic that
will include the observation of nature and the promotion
of rules for the respect for nature, and a parade of children
dressed with flower/tree costumes made from
reusable materials.
Participating schools:
Mira-Sintra EB1 nº2, Ferreira de Castro EB 2,3,
Montelavar EB, Alto dos Moinhos EB 2,3, Tapada das
Mercês EB1/JI, Luna de Carvalho EB/JI, Colaride EB,
Mem-Martins EB 1 nº2, Lameiras EB, Massamá EB1/JI,
Visconde Juromenha EB 2,3, D. Fernando II EB 2,3, Mem-
Martins EB1 nº3, Sintra EB/JI, and Mucifal EB.
“(…) a country with good woods, good forests, and
where the people take good care of the trees, enjoy planting
them and do not cut them without a very good reason,
is a country that, at least in this respect, and I am sure in
other things – because everything is connected – may
serve as a model (…)”
“(…) one must not take into account only what they produce,
and estimate the value of their products; one must
also thank them, and love them, for the comfort, the joy,
the pleasure that they give us when they are beautiful,
and we - sometimes sad, sometimes tired, - see them on
our way (…)
Mário de Azevedo In The Usefulness of Trees, Lisbon,
1916