Government ramps up efforts to boost forest cover

The government has planted 1.4 million trees in the Mau Forest, established the Kenya Towers Agency and adopted a national tree-planting effort to increase forest cover to at least 10 per cent by next year.

Environment CS Keriako Tobiko on Saturday said the government is keen on increasing forest cover and urged Kenyans to plant trees.

He spoke at the Garissa University in Garissa county from where he led Kenyans in marking World Environment Day.

“Today, we remind ourselves that we do not inherit the earth from our ancestors.  We borrow it from our children. We hold our planet in trust for our future generations and we rededicate ourselves in restoring our ecosystem and holding it for posterity,” Tobiko said.

The CS led top government officials, stakeholders and environmental conservationists in planting 1000 trees. He asked both students and staff to make sure that the trees survived.

PS Chris Kiptoo said that the ministry was facing challenges in the enforcement and implementation of climate change policies and guidelines, especially on the plastic ban.

“The government has done a lot of work to put in place the required policies. Our Parliament has also done very well in establishing a legal framework. It is not that we have inadequate laws and regulations,” Kiptoo said.

He added, “Our main failure is in enforcement and implementation and we have to work hard around this issue.”

The PS said the ministry was developing ways to help the country adapt to climate change through smart agriculture.

“Through the meteorological department, we are going to have smart rain gauges and automatic weather stations. These stations will provide real-time information on climatic changes which will be used for making informed farming decisions,” Kiptoo said

The official said the government plans to plant two billion trees in the next 10 years. Every county will receive 45.2 million seedlings.

Kiptoo said they have identified 1,400 schools and 160 prisons with adequate land to plant the seedlings. He asked the private sector to join hands in realising the success of the programme.

Garissa Governor Ali Korane said residents of the larger Northeastern region have been victims of environmental degradation and climate change for over three decades, putting their livelihoods at risk.

Korane faulted the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights for its failure to provide sources of energy, especially for cooking, when settling refugees in the region.

He said that failure led to the destruction of the environment through cutting down millions of trees.

“We have been the real victims of climatic change. We have been hosting over 240,000 refugees who were left to cut down trees for firewood causing destruction of the environment and our forests,” Korane said.

“We need to take serious interventions to mitigate these effects of climate change especially in arid and semi-arid regions.” 

The governor said persistent drought in the Northeastern has greatly affected the livelihoods of the residents whose livestock have died for lack of pasture and water.

He asked the state through the Ministry of Petroleum and Mining to revoke all mining licenses granted to individuals and companies operating in the area.

"We are committing serious environmental degradation that is affecting the livelihoods of residents," Korane said.

Korane said it was irresponsible to award licenses for mining of various resources like gypsum while the projects posed a threat to residents.

The theme for this year’s World Environment Day theme was ‘Ecosystem Restoration.’ It focused on resetting the human relationship with nature. It also marked the formal launch of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration that runs between 2021 and 2030.

The decade is also the deadline for the Sustainable Development Goals and the timeline in which scientists have identified as critical for avoiding the worst impacts of climate change.

Environment Chief Administrative Secretary Mohamed Elmy, Health CAS Mercy Mwangangi, Nema director-general Mamo Mamo, Garissa county commissioner Meru Mwangi were among officials present.

Edited by P.O