Miners from Migori County have been urged to conserve their working environment by planting trees in degraded mining sites.
Speaking during a planting exercise at Ombo Forest on the outskirts of Migori town, State Department for Mining Official Tracy Kinge called upon miners to embrace the tree-planting initiative in the mining sites to improve and conserve the working environment.
Kinge disclosed that their focus during Mazingira Day will be the restoration of mining sites under the theme ‘Mine-Site Restoration’ to make the degraded mining sites a safe space for all.
She said that as a preamble to Mazingira Day, celebrated every October 10, the Department of Mining was actively conducting awareness barazas across local mining sites in Migori to educate miners on environmental stewardship through a tree-planting initiative to rehabilitate degraded mining land.
The official also called upon all the miners to come together and conserve their working environment, adding that conserving our environment is a collective responsibility.
The majority of mining sites in Migori, especially those belonging to the artisanal and small-scale miners, have continued to pose danger to the local communities.
The open trenches and open spaces being dug by the local miners have been left open, posing danger to the locals and animals.
During rainy seasons, the trenches are filled with water, creating flash floods that carry harmful leaching chemicals like mercury that are used in the gold, copper, and zinc extractions.
Kinge noted that by targeting mining sites on the tree planting initiative, the mining sites will be conserved not only to improve the environment of those places but also to reduce harm that can be caused by open trenches and ditches.
Meanwhile, Migori County Forest Officer John Mbori outlined the week-long initiative whereby various teams from the forest and mining departments will be targeting planting at least 4,000 trees in the 4-acre Ombo forest to boost the Migori forest cover that currently stands at 2 per cent.
Mbori also explained that the tree planting initiative will focus on gazetted forests and mining sites across the county to conserve the environment and ensure the county meets the internationally recommended minimum standards of 10 per cent.
“On Mazingira Day, we are set to plant trees on at least 10 hectares of Otacho forest, a gazetted forest spanning 116 hectares in Awendo Sub County.
We plan to plant trees on at least 10 hectares, and, with the help of county institutions and residents, we hope to achieve the set target to improve climate change mitigation,” Mbori said.
By Beryl Akinyi and Lydia Adhiambo
