Public Service Cabinet Secretary Moses Kuria has appealed to Kisumu County residents to take advantage of the short rains to plant more trees to increase the tree cover in the region.
Kuria made the call when he led the national tree planting exercise in Kodiaga Prisons, Kisumu County, on Monday, where more than 6,000 tree seedlings were planted.
He underscored the need for multi-stakeholder collaboration at the grassroots level to attain the presidential directive on accelerated afforestation to grow over 15 billion trees by 2032.
“We are bound to take a whole-society approach to the tree planting drive that seeks to repair the degraded environment. Climate change has hit its peak, so we need to join hands in fighting greenhouse gas emissions to avoid the devastating impact of climate change,” stated the CS.
Kuria recounted the heavy price the livestock sector had to pay from last year’s recurrent droughts, with the losses from deaths estimated at Sh1.8 billion.
According to Kuria, it calls for a concerted effort to ensure that every Kenyan plays their part in the environmental conservation agenda to address the effects of global warming.
At the same time, the CS assured that his ministry, through the Public Service Performance Contract and Delivery Unit, would monitor and ensure that all civil servants and state departments achieve their set targets for the tree planting initiative.
On his part, Governor Anyang’ Nyong’o affirmed his administration’s commitment to supporting the presidential directive on environmental conservation.
In a speech read on his behalf by the County Executive Committee Member for Environment, Maryline Agwa, during the tree planting exercise, Prof. Nyong’o reiterated the need for society to scale up its efforts towards combating climate change.
“Tree planting is the responsibility of every citizen to protect the environment. In compliance with the national government’s directive, my staff have participated in planting over 5,000 trees. They are committed to growing more plants towards attaining our target of planting 9 million tree seedlings,” stated Prof. Nyong’o.
He lamented that livelihood in Lakeside County has been adversely affected by global warming due to unpredictable weather patterns, droughts, and floods.
Kisumu County Commissioner Hussein Allasow informed that over 103,000 tree seedlings were planted at various sites across the lakeside county on Monday.
He assured that tree planting activities would only be conducted at strategic sites during the short rain period to enhance their survival rates.
The launch in Kisumu was also attended by Nyanza Regional Commissioner Flora Mworoa, Leah Kasera from the Office of the Head of Public Service, the Chairperson of the Kenya Institute of Mass Communication Charles Owino, and the Chairman of the Lake Basin Development Authority Board James Diang’a, among other dignitaries.
By Robert Ojwang’
