Kwale Governor Fatuma Achani has flagged off a tree planting campaign aimed at enhancing environmental sustainability and combating climate change in the coastal region.
Governor Achani distributed 10,000 tree seedlings for planting to residents in Matuga Sub County under the Financing Locally-Led Climate Action (FLLoCA) project through the Department of Lands, Environment, Climate Change and Urban Planning.
The FLLoCA programme provides financial support for local climate resilience projects and seeks to empower local communities to take the lead in addressing climate change challenges.
The coastal county boss also underscored the crucial role of tackling the challenge of climate change by inaugurating the tree planting initiative at Ganze village in Waa/Ngombeni ward of Matuga Sub County.
Governor Achani stated that the devolved government would continue to produce indigenous, exotic and fruit tree seedlings for distribution to the people to support environmental resilience.
Achani said the campaign underscores her administration’s commitment to addressing the detrimental effects of climate change, soil erosion, land degradation, and desertification. Thus, she said the county initiative is part of the national government’s broader environmental conservation effort to make Kenya green.
“We urge the community to absorb the habit of environmental sustainability, restoration of degraded lands and ensure the trees are nurtured to maturity,” she said.
Achani underscored the need to protect the environment from the negative effects of climate change and secure a healthier future for current and future generations.
The national government is championing a campaign to plant 15 billion trees by 2032 in a bid to increase the country’s forest cover from 12 per cent to 30 per cent.
Environmentalists contend that the efforts to plant 15 billion trees would help in achieving green cover targets to achieve a green economy and to adopt a sustainable lifestyle for combating the challenges of climate change.
Achani says the mass tree planting drive seeks to conserve the environment, preserve the ecosystem and mitigate the adverse effects of climate change such as rising temperatures, sea level rise, longer lasting droughts, flooding and storms.
She urged the residents to embrace the culture of tree planting in order to address deforestation which has exacerbated the challenges of climate change.
“Let all and sundry support the noble initiatives of tree planting for the collective good of our environment and boosting agricultural productivity in the region,” she said.
She added ‘the planting of trees will go a long way in controlling desertification, deforestation and environmental degradation’.
The Governor noted that human interference with the natural environment has led to the loss of biodiversity as well as livelihoods of communities.
By Ann Nyambura and Hussein Abdullahi
