A lightning strike ended her first attempt, but Patricia Ariokot was successful the second time, entering the Guinness Book of World Records when she hugged a tree for 16 hours. Her feat was not a publicity stunt but an effort to raise awareness for Uganda’s growing deforestation problem. According to Global Forest Watch, Uganda lost more than 1 million hectares (2.5 million acres) of tree cover from deforestation between 2001 and 2022. Ariokot is also promoting tree preservation by making plantable pencils — wooden pencils filled with tree seeds. She regularly does community outreaches, mainly in schools in eastern Uganda.
SOURCE: DW
