AUSTRALIA
On October 5, 2006, Mr. Jason Thompson, Baton Coordinator of Scouts Australia together with 45 Scouts from Australia handed over the Peace Baton to His Excellency Sir Nathaniel Waena, Chief Scout and Governor-General of Solomon Island (SI). From there, the Baton relayed to the main road of Honiara and was greeted by Scouts and cheered by the people besides the streets. After the relay, a program was held in SMI Complex with Prime Minister of Solomon Island, Hon.Manasseh Sogavare as the Guest Speaker.

The Peace Baton also spent time with Australia and SI Scouts during the S106 project, wherein Scouts from Australia are working to improve Scouting in Solomon Islands and community facilities.

Besides the dignitaries mentioned above, the Peace Baton was also handed over to the following dignitaries of Australia and Solomon Island namely, Joe Billy Oge, SI Scout Association Chief Commissioner; Mr. Alex Wang, Chairman of SI Association; and Ms. Heidi Bootle, Acting Australian High Commissioner in Solomon Islands.

After the relay in Solomon Island, the Peace Baton will go back to Australia and will be send by postal in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea on November 6, 2006.

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Scouts around the world are being called upon to contribute to the planting of 1 billion trees as part of the United Nations Environment Programme’s (UNEP) 1 Billion Trees Campaign!

Aimed at promoting the many benefits of local tree planting efforts around the world, Scouts are in a prime position to register our current tree planting efforts or take this opportunity to establish a tree planting project in your local community.

Planting trees can have many positive impacts on our environment including providing food and habitat for wildlife, cleaning the air, reducing soil erosion, helping to purify water, storing carbon and helping to reduce global warming and improving the general appearance of the landscape.

 It is simple to register tree planting pledges on the UNEP 1 Billion Trees Campaign website and Scouts are encouraged to make their pledges for 2007, whether they are large national projects or smaller local tree planting efforts, they all are important and count towards the aim of 1 billion trees!

Please include the word ‘Scouts’ in your pledge, as the total number of trees planted by Scouts around the world can be tallied at the end of 2007. For more information see:

www.unep.org/billiontreecampaign