- Through her Talk Show dubbed Tuongee Na Shirley, she shares big, bold and new ideas with other participants on environmental improvement.
- Some of the environmental activities that Shirley does include tree planting, educating her peers and awareness creation through different programmes.
Image: RIGATHI GACHAGUA/TWITTER
Shirley Akinyi Achieng, 12, is a passionate, resolute and focused young Miss Greening Champion who is on a mission to protect and conserve water towers and the Lake Victoria ecosystem.
Currently, she is at the forefront of ensuring that the clarion call by President William Ruto to plant 15 billion trees in the next 10 years comes to fruition.
“I am an environmentalist, climate change activist and the Kisumu county Miss Greening Champion ambassador. I desire to create a positive environmental impact in the globe,” said Shirley, a Class 8 pupil at Arya Primary School, Kisumu Central subcounty.
Through her talk show dubbed Tuongee Na Shirley, she shares big, bold and new ideas with other participants on environmental improvement, which are geared towards humanity and for a better greener future.
Some of the environmental activities that Shirley does include tree planting, educating her peers and awareness creation through different programmes. She jointly undertakes the programmes with the county government and various school institutions.
“I have been planting trees in schools and when I was celebrating my last birthday while turning 12 years old, we planted more than 100 trees in Obinju Primary School, and I ensured that I planted more than 12 trees,” she said, even as she urged people to plant trees according to their age.
“I just want Kisumu county to be green and have oxygen because in our hospitals, patients find oxygen expensive to buy while the Almighty God has given it to us for free from trees.”
The budding environmentalist said started her noble mission aged nine years old after drawing a lot of inspiration from her mother.
“I used to see my mum plant trees and where we live, we have planted more than 30 trees and still counting,” Shirley said.
She made the remarks when she led various stakeholders in a tree planting exercise during the World Autism Day held at the Joyland Special Primary School in Kisumu Central subcounty.
Her mother, Sophia Atieno, who also acts as her role model, is the executive director of the Shirley Foundation and a conservationist who does community volunteer work in different greening activities within the county.
“I’m keen on making my county green because of the importance of trees, and that’s why I inspired my daughter to do the same. As a parent, I am happy that she has not only accepted the huge environmental task, but she also loves doing it and it’s in her heart,” Sophia said.
The Kisumu-based organisation, in conjunction with the county government and other non-state actors, is keen on improving on the loss of biodiversity, deteriorating water quality and quantity and declining agricultural productivity due to climate change through creating awareness in the community.
Sophia said Kisumu county has always assisted them with fruits or organic trees to plant during most of their events.
The challenges facing the organisation include the destruction of newly planted trees by by cattle in remote villages and schools which reduces the gains made.
Sophia decried the deplorable situation as she called upon people to take advantage of the rainy season to plant more trees.
According to Ken Oyoo, the director of Environment and Conservation Kisumu county, the currently estimated forest cover was at 1.86 per cent and a tree cover of eight per cent compared to 0.4 per cent five years ago when the county was ranked the second last in the whole country.
To augment these efforts, they are working in close collaboration with the Kenya Forest Service and other stakeholders to boost the forest cover within the county.
The Kisumu County Integrated Climate Change Action Plan (KCICCAP 2022-2027) seeks to further its development goals by providing the mechanisms and measures to achieve low carbon climate-resilient development.
The mechanisms hope to prioritise adaptation (risk and vulnerability), mitigation (Baseline Emission Inventory) and access to energy by vulnerable groups, including women, children, youth, persons with disabilities, the elderly and the marginalised.
The Kisumu action plan identifies some of the key actions that will include the development in Implementation of the County Disaster Management policy, increasing tree and forest cover to 10 per cent and implementing the County Energy Plan, which stresses the improvement of renewable energy uptake in the community.
Shirley said that she was appointed the Miss Greening ambassador during the Kisumu county street festival in December last year, which was graced by Governor Anyang' Nyong’o and city manager Abala Wanga and other leaders.
Her parting shot is that people should plant more trees and when they buy their sodas in plastic bottles, they should practice proper disposal because the bottles are a very big threat to marine life.
“Lake Victoria right now is highly polluted and smells bad. We are now trying to put more effort to sensitise the people to be wary of the hazardous activities which contribute to climate change,” Shirley said.