The Government's National Land Week programme officially ended Wednesday in the village of Lano, Savai'i.

The three-day programme — which revolved around the theme “caring for planet earth starts from the ground" — started at Lalomanu, Aleipata on Monday. 

Lano Village Mayor, Malaeulu Amoni, thanked the Government and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (M.N.R.E.) for choosing the village as the venue for such an important celebration.

“We are very pleased to host this year’s closing celebration of the National Land and Soil week in Samoa,” said Malaeulu.

“We thank the Government for such great vision and for considering our village to host this special event.

“This year’s celebration will always be remembered as we seldom have such events on the big island. These events are always held in Apia. But we are grateful to the Government for agreeing to bring this year’s closing celebration to the big island of Savai'i.”

Village mayor for the village of Pu’apu’a, Peseta Luteru, expressed similar sentiments. 

“We are happy to be part of this celebration,” he said. 

“I applaud the Government for bringing this celebration out in the village and here in Savai'i. This can educate and inform the people in these areas of Samoa about some of the programmes and initiatives, that our Government are implementing for the betterment of our country.

“There have been a lot of issues with our lands over the years, and how some people abuse and overuse our resources.

“But I believe that if we start educating them through these programmes, they will be aware of the effects of their actions and encourage everyone to work together for the future of our lands and of course our children.”

Special guests at the celebration also had the chance to plant trees at the venue to complement the Two Million Trees campaign in Samoa.

Vaili Safuta Iulio, the Assistant Chief Executive Officer (Spatial Information Agency- Technical Services Division) within the M.N.R.E. addressed the audience on behalf of the Minister and the C.E.O of the Ministry.

The village of Asaga in Savai’i provided traditional dancing and skits, while the village of Saipipi entertained the crowd with traditional Samoan singing focused on the theme of this year’s celebration.

The event concluded with a training conducted by the M.N.R.E. for village representatives from all around Savai’i on the importance of land conservation. 

Reverend Feterika Motu, of the C.C.C.S in Lano, who led a small service before the start of the official programme, reminded everyone about the importance of “working together".

“Our lands and seas are our gifts from God,” he said. 

“And we are to take good care of it and look after it; not only for us, but for the future generation.

“That is why we need to come together and work to support our government in programmes such as this, so we can all sustain our resources so that we can benefit from it today, tomorrow and the years to come.”