Over 200,000 tree seedlings were planted across Embu County on Saturday to commemorate this year’s Mazingira Day in a massive step towards environmental conservation.
Public Service, Human Capital Development and Special Programmes Cabinet Secretary (CS) Geoffrey Ruku spearheaded the exercise, rallying locals to advance the country’s greening and conservation agenda.
At the main event at Jeremiah Nyaga National Polytechnic in Mbeere South Constituency, CS Ruku led hundreds of community groups, institutions and local residents to plant a total of 20,000 seedlings within the institution.
The county-wide conservation drive also targeted other key ecological and institutional sites, including Mwea National Game Reserve and Mugoya Regional Police Headquarters, where 100,000 and 50,000 tree seedlings were planted, respectively.
An additional 30,000 were planted within Irangi Forest and adjacent Nyayo Tea Zone to boost reforestation efforts.
Speaking after the exercise, CS Ruku called on residents to take a proactive role in tree planting and nurturing to assist the government achieve the ambitious goal of growing 15 billion trees by 2032.
“Active participation in tree planting and nurturing by residents here and Kenyans at large is crucial for attaining the national target,” he said, adding that environmental conservation was a collective responsibility.
He noted that the government had successfully grown 2.2 billion trees so far representing close to 15 percent of the 15-billion target, but emphasised that there was still a long way to go that calls for relentless efforts from the government and Kenyans.
Additionally, the CS encouraged households to plant fruit trees, emphasising their potential was not only in conserving the environment but also boosting family incomes as well as improving nutritional health.
On her part, Embu County Forest Conservator Elizabeth Muthoni noted that the county had a tree cover of 29.2 percent that was above the national tree cover currently standing at 12.13 per cent according to the Kenya Forest Service (KFS).
She said they were projecting to push the cover to 30 percent by 2030 to align with the national goal of boosting tree cover and also combat climate change.
Further to this, Ms Muthoni said plans were underway to launch a fruit tree growing campaign, and they were currently recruiting interested local community groups for the venture.
According to the officer, 100,000 avocado fruit trees had been allocated for the campaign, translating to approximately 23 hectares of agroforestry coverage.
By Samuel Waititu
