PS leads administrators in rallying residents to plant more trees

National Government Administrative Officers have been urged to take advantage of their public meetings to encourage people to plant more trees in their farms.

Energy Principal Secretary Gordon Kihalangwa on Friday also asked the officials, who include chiefs and their assistants, to sensitise the public on the importance of increasing forest cover and conserving them.

Kihalangwa said tree population in many farms in the Kieni area in Nyeri county are still low.

“You cannot be bordering forests but in your compounds, you don’t have enough trees,” he said.

The PS also asked residents to seek guidance from forest officials on the types of trees to plant so they can plant the right types.

Countries like Brazil and Congo are paid a lot of money because of their contribution towards clean air, with the PS adding that Kenya should also work hard to get there.

Kihalangwa spoke at Gakanga in Kieni West subcounty during the launch of the 'Adopt a Tree Initiative' where the Ministry has adopted 150 hectares of the Aberdare forest.

The area has gaps of close to about 500 hectares yet to be taken up.

The PS instructed the Renewable Energy Secretary Isaac Kiva to add 50 more hectares to 100 hectares done by the Muringato Community Forest Association, bringing the total number of hectares under the CFA to 150.

“We shall take advantage of the existing rain but we will do the maximum work with the heavy rains of April next year,” he said.

He lauded the CFA for being active in conserving the forest.

The PS assured the Environment ministry of continued support in rehabilitation of the forest.

“And as the Energy ministry, it is also our duty to ensure that our rivers and dams are protected,” he said.

In the financial year 2021/22, the Ministry will spend about Sh43 million towards environmental conservation, he added.

Conservation work does not belong to the Kenya Forestry Service department alone but every person has the responsibility to conserve forests, he said.

Kihalangwa said the Ministry also has the responsibility to ensure Kenyans get electricity, saying one source of electricity is hydroelectric power dams which draw their water from forests.

But water levels in dams have dropped in the recent years.

This is due to reduction of water in rivers as a result of environmental degradation and growing of food crops along the dams leading to siltation.

“The power in this country comes from about five sources. We have hydro, geothermal, thermos, solar and wind. But the cheapest power is from hydro,” he said.

Kihalangwa said the Ministry has been working closely with other ministries, including the Environment ministry, in almost six to seven counties to improve forest cover.

Muringato CFA chairman John Karoki said the area had trees years back, but they were cut down and people allowed to do farming.

The Energy ministry later adopted the forest and came up with a programme of planting trees in 100 hectares of the land in a bid to rehabilitate the area.

He said the programme has created jobs for more than 1,000 people and called on other partners to chip in and adopt part of the degraded forest.

 The plan is to plant 160,000 seedlings in the 100 hectares.

The degradation of forest has been blamed on human activities which are either illegal settlement or illegal harvesting of trees.

Nyeri county commissioner Loyford Kibaara said Nyeri residents have been able to plant more than 61,000 trees in the farms.

Nyeri Water Executive Fredrick Kinyua said the county recently enacted the County Conservation and Management Act in which the county has pledged to spend not less than two percent of its budget on matters forest conservation and management.

Ministry of Forestry  representative Alfred Gichu said they will be launching an ambitious programme of seedling production targeting schools, prisons, churches and other institutions that have facilities like water and space to grow seedlings.

This is aimed at bringing the cost of the seedlings down to enable people to plant more trees.

(edited by Amol Awuor)