Homa Bay residents should plant at least 15 million trees every year to enhance forest cover, the county Ecosystem Conservator Sharon Chelegut has said.
Chelegut said Homa Bay is still listed among the counties with low forest cover as it currently has 3.18 per cent.
The county is striving to reach a forest cover of 10.41 per cent by 2030.
Last year, President William Ruto launched the planting of 15 billion trees to increase forest cover and as a way of mitigating the adverse effects of climate change.
President Ruto also issued a directive to government officials to plant trees in public places.
Cheluget said the government has gazetted at least 14,000 hectares of land as forest areas in Homa Bay.
There are 32 hills including Homa Hills, Asego, Rabuor, Gembe and others.
“Let’s form a habit of planting trees to increase Homa Bay forest cover. Residents need to plant more trees in the gazetted areas,” Chelegut said.
Speaking when they marked World Forest Day at Lala primary school in Homa Bay Town constituency, the forests officer said strategies have been laid to ensure the county archives its target forest cover.
Some of them include the allocation of community land to be gazetted as Forest areas.
Present were Homa Bay Deputy County Commissioner Charles Mwayaya and National Environment Management Authority (Nema) Environment Officer Brian Otiende.
Mwayaya said at least 1.2 million trees have been planted in Homa Bay after the directive.
Mwayaya said all government officials should take part in the national exercise.
He argued that many trees have been cut in Homa Bay because of different activities including agriculture, fuel and space for settlement.
“All administrators should have tree nurseries in their offices where tree seedlings can be planted and distributed for planting,” Mwayaya said.
Residents were urged to protect the environment on grounds that failure may lead to an escalated rise in temperature and adverse weather phenomena.
Otiende said Nema will continue overseeing different activities to ensure the enforcement is protected.
He said Nema works to promote encroachment conservation.
Otiende told residents to avoid using fire in clearing land before planting.
He said most farmers doing this have always ended up burning down trees.
“If at all fire must be used in land clearing then there must be a barrier between the land that is being cleared and nearby trees. This will ensure forests are protected,” Otiende said.
Some of the organisations working with Nema in environmental conservation include schools.
Otiende said the agency has partnered with many learning institutions to ensure trees are protected.
During the celebrations, environmental experts said children should be encouraged to plant trees.
Climatologist Clifford Omondi and Plant a Tree for a Better Environment Patron Nuhu Masud said children must understand the benefits of planting trees.
Masud said without the knowledge, they will not understand the benefits of the practice and may end up failing to protect trees for the benefit of future generations.
