KANDAL, Cambodia, July 9 (Xinhua) -- Cambodian King Norodom Sihamoni on Sunday grew tree seedlings in southern Kandal province to mark the Forest Day.
The annual event was attended by senior officials of the Government, the National Assembly, and the Senate as well as relevant stakeholders and thousands of locals and students.
Speaking at the ceremony, the monarch said forest is the life of all humans, animals and biodiversity on earth and helps to prevent soil erosion.
"On this occasion, I would like to call on the compatriots to join in with preventing wildfires, stopping forest clearance for land, illegal logging, poaching and trapping wild animals, and re-planting trees maximally to increase the forest cover," he said.
According to Agriculture Minister Veng Sakhon, some 8,830 tree seedlings were planted on the area of 10 hectares at the event.
Cambodia's forest cover stood at 73 percent in the 1970s, but over-logging has decreased it since then.
The latest report of the country's Forestry Administration showed that by 2010, forest cover in the country was 103,398 square kilometers, or 57 percent of Cambodia's land.
