A Kenyan non-governmental organisation is successfully blending environmental conservation with sports.
Sango Information Hub, a registered community media initiative which specializes in knowledge management and information sharing on natural resources and environmental protection, partnered with online betting firm Betika in the month of November to plant over 5,000 tree seedlings at Buiri ward in Busia County.
And what a glamorous way it was to crown the noble cause with a football match between Busijo United and Bumbe Dynamo FC at Busijo Primary School grounds, with more than 500 spectators drawn from all the facets of the county gracing the event.
Among the keynote speakers at the function was Kizito Amua, a weather and environmental specialist who urged local communities in the Lake Victoria Basin to plant trees.
"Trees will aid in increasing air moisture through evapotranspiration as well as trapping moisture emanating from the lake improving the rainfall regime for the region," said Amua.
The Lake Victoria Basin is made up of ten counties, mostly the Western and Nyanza regions which cover approximately 10 percent of the entire Kenyan territory.
The region has witnessed rapid degradation of its vast natural resources, owing to poor land use practices, deforestation and excessive flooding.
