Kampala — THE move by the National Forest Authority to degazzate forest reserves in 15 urban centres is a miscalculation.

According to an official of the National Environmental Management Authority (NEMA), it was wrong because trees absorb city noise and pollutant gases.

"Towns are meeting centres for greenhouse gases from factories like steel rolling mills, vehicles, bakeries and incinerators among others." "So, trees are the immediate reducers of such pollutant gases," said NEMA's western regional environmental public awareness officer, Jeconious Musingwire.

He said since some factory proprietors had not installed the electrostatic precipitators to capture particles of emissions of greenhouse gases from their steel rolling mills, trees remain an alternative.

"Besides, ornamental and ambient trees in urban compounds, streets, recreational centres and hospitals do mitigate the noise levels," he said.

Musingwire was reacting to a recent statemet by Hudson Andura, the director of natural resources at the forestry body.

Andura said plans were underway to degazzate urban forest reserves to cater for the growing population.

"We should take care of further degradation of other green belts such as swamps, open grounds like independence parks and golf pitches."

"These green belts in urban areas filtrate the run offs of surface water prior to other discharge water bodies,' Musingwire said. He asked the Government to discourage the new trend of cementing pavements and compounds.

Musingwire said green grasses ease the percolation of water into the soil.