Plant 300 trees and get certificate, Kenyans told
President William Ruto has urged every Kenyan to grow at least 300 trees as part of improving the country’s forest cover.
Ruto said reforestation in the presidential programme will be undertaken by youth and women groups, civil society, and community and religious organisations, leveraging on the private sector and government financing.
“I urge all Kenyans to support the government’s call to grow at least 15 billion trees in the next 10 years. To achieve this target, every Kenyan should grow 300 trees. I will tell the Ministry of Environment to issue a small certificate to every Kenyan who completes his round of planting 300 trees,” the President said in his maiden Mashujaa Day celebration speech. The
Head of State said the central role forests play in addressing the effects of climate change has become more prominent now than ever before, owing to their unparalleled capacity to absorb, store carbon and regulate climate.
Climate change concerns Of the 59.2 million hectares of land area in Kenya, he said that only 5.2 hectares are under forest cover and the remainder are largely in arid and semi-arid lands.
The 10 counties with the highest forest cover are Nyeri, Lamu, Vihiga, Kirinyaga, Elgeyo Marakwet, Meru, Embu, Murang’a, Kilifi and Nyandarua.
The 10 counties with the lowest tree cover on the other hand are Marsabit, Mandera, Wajir, Isiolo, Siaya, Migori, Busia, Machakos, Taita-Taveta and Uasin Gishu.
President has since called upon the Council of Governors to facilitate more discussions to achieve parity in tree cover by using peer-to-peer learning and exchange of information.
He said the government will champion the transformation of forestry and rangeland restoration to support the greening of Kenya so as to combat climate change.
Ruto said the government is concerned about climate change and its impact on the country and the arid and semi-arid regions in particular.
