England, Lanka players plant trees at Galle

England and Sri Lankan cricketers plant trees in Galle as a part of an initiative by the Sri Lanka tourism department.

The visiting England cricket team, along with the hosts, today participated in a tree planting campaign at the re-built Galle Stadium to support an environmental programme by Sri Lanka's tourism department.

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England Test captain Michael Vaughan and ODI captain Paul Collingwood joined Sri Lanka's Mahela Jayawardena and Kumar Sangakkara to plant trees in a symbolic gesture to fight against carbon emissions at the stadium, which was ravaged by the 2004 Tsunami.

The 'Earth Lung Initiative' campaign envisages to make the island country a carbon clean destination within 10 years by reducing deforestation, mitigating pollution and using energy efficient alternative technologies.

The country's Tourism department is aiming to plant 10 Million saplings during the campaign, which was first launched on November 29 at Asgariya Cricket Stadium in Kandy.