GROUP PORTRAIT: UCSI University's Faculty head of Civil Engineering Ir Asst Prof Ahmad Bin Tamby Kadir (seventh from left, second row) posing for the camera with students at the Raja Musa Forest Reserve during the tree planting campaign.

READY FOR ACTION: UCSI University's Engineering students all lined up with the necessary materials to kick-start their tree planting campaign at the Raja Musa Forest Reserve.

FOR A GOOD CAUSE: UCSI University's Engineering students in the midst of digging holes to plant their saplings at the Raja Musa Forest Reserve.

FOR A GOOD CAUSE: UCSI University's Engineering students in the midst of digging holes to plant their saplings at the Raja Musa Forest Reserve.

SELANGOR: Approximately 110 UCSI University (UCSI) students - under the Faculty of Engineering, Technology & Built Environment - recently participated in a tree planting campaign at the Raja Musa Forest Reserve, situated near Batang Berjuntai. 

Joining efforts with the Global Environment Centre (GEC) - a non-government organisation that addresses key environmental issues of global importance - the students planted approximately 2,000seedlings in hopes of restoring the forest to its former glory. 

Notably, this annual CSR project is part of the reserve's monthly tree planting rehabilitationprogramme for the year. 

The project aims to raise greater awareness on the importance of forest conservation and climate change as well as its effects to forests. 

Departing from UCSI's Kuala Lumpur campus in threechartered buses at around 7:00am, the students were bubbling with enthusiasm, keen to begin exploring and learning more about the forest reserve. 

Reaching the forest reserve at around 8:30am, the students were given a quick briefing by GEC programme officer Nurhayati and technical officer Julia Lo. 

The students were later provided with the necessary equipment - like machetes, pots and hoes, to name a few - to kick-start the tree planting process. 

Under the sweltering sun, the students cheerfully selected the 'best spots' to plant their seedlings and applied the open planting technique that they had learned during the earlier briefing. 

In essence, the technique necessitated them to clear their planting spot of existing vegetation and weeds before the seedling could be placed carefully in the freshly dug hole; it would then be covered with the existing peat. 

According to Faculty head of Civil Engineering Ir Asst Prof Ahmad Bin Tamby Kadir, who joined the students on this trip, the annual campaign was a great experience for the students. 

"Not only do they learn how to preserve our forests but they also experience what a peatswamp is like," he explained. 

"We have many international students here in our Faculty and this has certainly been an eye-opener for them as some have never even stepped into tropical forests before, much less peat swamps."