Tana River Eco-system Conservator of Forest Jaffar Galole has put on notice people who cut down trees illegally for charcoal burning.
“We are not relenting on our efforts towards enforcement of the Forest Conservation and Management Act no. 34 0f 2016. We will take stern measures against those involved in the destruction of our precious environment as per the Act,” said the Ecosystem conservator in an interview with KNA in Hola Monday.
World Environment day was marked in Hurara, Tana Delta Sub-County in the Tana River. Kenya Forest Service distributed 15,000 seedlings to Resource User Associations, 500 seedlings were planted yesterday to commemorate the event.
Last month, President Uhuru Kenyatta launched the National Forest Resources Report 2021. The report, according to Kenya Forest Service, provides a baseline of tree cover in the country and will be used for strategy and action plan development geared toward the protection, conservation, and management of forests.
The report reveals that Tana River has the highest moderate forest canopy with 351,100.47 Ha, followed by Samburu, Garissa, and Kilifi counties. Resource output assessment outputs indicated that the national tree cover is 12.13 percent as of 2021.
Tana River is among five ASAL counties namely Kitui, Garissa, Turkana, and Samburu contributing significantly to Kenya’s net tree cover according to the KFS report.
Kenya’s Vision 2030 plan set a goal for the country to achieve 10 per cent tree cover but in 2018, the President revised the deadline to 2022 to address the effects of climate change, a target that has since been surpassed according to the 2021 KFS report.
By Sadik Hassan
