• Youths urged to plant trees as part of efforts to mitigate the effects of climate change.
• Heavy rains continue to pound several parts of the country, including the Meru region.
Quarry workers in Meru have been ordered to vacate the sites amid warning of expected landslides.
County chief officer for environment Kinoti Mweiba on Tuesday said workers should vacate the quarries because they are prone to landslides especially during the rainy season.
Heavy rains continue to pound several parts of the country, including the Meru region. Mweiba said the quarries are among sites that have been listed as dangerous.
He was speaking in Meru town during a sensitisation workshop organised by the Farm Forestry Smallholder Producers Association of Kenya. FF-SPAK coordinator Edwin Kamau and chairperson Zipporah Matumbi were present.
Mwebia said farmers should desist from activities that cause soil erosion so they can help conserve the environment.
Kamau asked residents to take individual responsibility for climate change mitigation by planting trees and protecting their environments to improve the ecosystem.
Their initiative was sponsored by the World Association of Christina Communication and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
“The climate pattern has changed. Nowadays, we either have heavy rains and some other times we face drought. Every Kenyan must take individual responsibility to plant at least ten per cent tree cover in their own farms. Let us also use water in the right manner and avoid wasting it,” Kamau said.
He said their association was keen on building capacities of communities at family levels so they can use local and traditional knowledge to advance sustainable natural resource management and climate change mitigation strategies.
Matumbi said the conservationist group was worried about the increased felling of trees in rural areas where land has been left bare. "This maybe the reason pests are on the increase and effects of climate change are felt by everyone," she said.
She said they had launched an initiative targeting youths in the counties to step in and plant more trees.
“We want to entrench a culture of planting trees by our youths. When we plant trees we prevent soil erosion and our rivers will not dry up and there will be sufficient oxygen,” Matumbi said.