Environment, Climate Change and Forestry, Cabinet Secretary (CS), Dr. Deborah Barasa, has called for a coordinated whole-of-government and whole-of-society approach to the implementation of Mazingira Week 2026, saying the national campaign should position Kenya as a global leader in landscape and ecosystem restoration, while delivering measurable economic, social, and environmental benefits.
The CS urged that Mazingira Week should move beyond tree planting to become a national platform for telling Kenya’s restoration story, demonstrating the economic value of healthy ecosystems, and mobilizing citizens and institutions to take ownership of environmental conservation.
Addressing the Mazingira Week 2026 Planning Committee in Nairobi, Dr. Barasa emphasized that landscape restoration is not only an environmental imperative, but also an investment in Kenya’s economy, supporting livelihoods, agriculture, tourism, biodiversity, climate resilience, and other productive sectors.
“We must tell our story and position ourselves as ambassadors and leaders of restoration,” she directed.
Mazingira Week will run from October 5 to 10, 2026, culminating in the National Mazingira Day celebrations at Kiptogot Forest Station in Trans Nzoia County and the Presidential Green Challenge across counties.
The campaign is designed to accelerate implementation of the 15 Billion Tree Growing Programme, which seeks to raise Kenya’s national tree cover to 30 percent by 2032.
During the meeting, Dr. Barasa called for restoration interventions to be implemented at scale and in a synchronized manner, with National and County governments, communities, development partners, the private sector, and other stakeholders working collectively towards clearly defined restoration outcomes.
A key highlight of Mazingira Week, according to the CS, will be the Presidential Green Challenge, which will mobilise 200,000 Scouts and National Youth Service personnel to plant six million trees simultaneously within one hour across 31 participating counties, subject to applicable Guinness World Records requirements and independent adjudication.
Dr. Barasa noted that the scale, coordination, and timing of the initiative would be critical to its success, urging stakeholders to take advantage of the short-rains season to accelerate tree growing and broader ecosystem restoration.
“Mazingira is about restoration at scale. We must leverage the availability of rains, work as a team, and take restoration seriously,” she rallied.
The CS observed that Mazingira Week should reflect a comprehensive restoration agenda encompassing forest restoration, agroforestry, mangrove restoration, assisted natural regeneration, fencing and other ecosystem-based interventions.
She highlighted Technology and innovation will play a central role in strengthening restoration, monitoring and accountability.
Dr. Barasa pointed out that the upgraded JazaMiti App available and new USSD platform which will be unveiled will support registration, geospatial monitoring, reporting and tracking of tree survival, including enabling participation by citizens using basic mobile phones.
She announced that the week will also feature innovative restoration interventions, including aerial seeding of degraded landscapes where the Kenya Defence Forces will lead operational implementation across nine priority landscapes, in collaboration with the Kenya Forest Service, Kenya Forestry Research Institute and Kenya Airways’ Fahari Aviation.
“The aerial restoration operation targets approximately 150,360 hectares of degraded landscapes, underscoring the Government’s commitment to moving restoration from isolated interventions to coordinated action at landscape scale,” the CS reported.
Likewise, Dr. Barasa insisted that the restoration agenda must be deliberately linked to economic opportunities, job creation and improved livelihoods, particularly for young people and communities.
She at the same time cited the JazaMiti initiative as an opportunity to engage citizens and youth in tree growing, while strengthening national systems for monitoring and accountability.
Experiences from countries such as Ethiopia and India, she noted, demonstrate the importance of political leadership, national mobilization, and coordinated action in advancing large-scale restoration.
She maintained that Kenya is well positioned to build on its own experience and leadership under His Excellency President William Ruto, a champion of environmental restoration and climate action, whose commitment to the restoration of degraded landscapes and expansion of tree cover has placed environmental conservation at the centre of the national development agenda.
The CS stressed that Kenya should leverage this political leadership to develop and showcase a distinctive restoration model suited to the country’s diverse landscapes and ecosystems, while positioning Kenya as a global leader in restoration and climate action.
Kenya, she reiterated, must develop a restoration model that responds to its diverse landscapes and ecosystems while positioning the country as a leading voice and practitioner in global restoration efforts.
“Mazingira Week is an opportunity to tell our story; a story of landscapes restored, livelihoods improved and a country taking leadership in conservation,” the CS noted.
The Mazingira Week programme will feature a series of sector-led national activities, including National Schools Tree Growing Day, National Agroforestry Day, National Highway Greening Day and National Clean Up Day, before culminating in National Mazingira Day on October 10.
The CS called on all institutions participating in the campaign to ensure that every activity contributes directly to the broader national restoration agenda and produces tangible, measurable outcomes.
She further emphasized the importance of strategic communication in documenting and showcasing Kenya’s restoration achievements through mainstream and digital media, ensuring that the national narrative on restoration reaches citizens, partners and the international community.
Meanwhile, the meeting, chaired by Dr. Jesse Owino KEFRI’s Deputy Regional Director for the Rift Valley Eco-Region Forestry Research, brought together members of the Mazingira Week 2026 Planning Committee drawn from Ministries, Departments and Agencies, including Mr. Adrian Lemarasia (SDECC), Mr. Felix Kisalu and Ms. Susan Boit (15B Secretariat) to review preparations and strengthen coordination ahead of the national campaign.
The CS urged the Committee and all participating institutions to maintain a strong focus on delivery, accountability and measurable impact, saying Mazingira Week should lay the foundation for a lasting national culture of environmental stewardship.
The campaign is expected to accelerate implementation of the 15 Billion Tree Growing Programme, increase public participation in tree growing and ecosystem restoration, advance innovative restoration at scale, strengthen national and county delivery capacity, enhance public ownership, and improve monitoring and accountability of restoration efforts.
By Michael Omondi
