Embu County Governor Cecily Mbarire plans to plant one million trees per year by partnering with the Kenya Scout Movement in the county and Rainforest Alliance a Non-Governmental Organization.
The governor who spoke during her installation as the patron of Kenya Scouts Association Embu chapter said that as a result of the severe drought that Embu County has experienced due to climate change, her county seeks to plant one million trees per year so as to address the issue of climate change in the county.
She said that the partnership with scout’s movement in the county and Rainforest Alliance will help the area achieve its tree planting target because both the scout’s movement and Rainforest Alliance have already commenced tree planting projects in the county.
The Governor disclosed that her administration will set aside a budget to cater for tree planting exercises in order to meet the yearly tree planting target.
Mbarire added that the county will also partner with the youth and women in the exercise and it will ensure that every youth and women groups have nursery tree seedlings that the county will purchase from them in order to be planted in the county.
County Scouts Commissioner in Embu Elidah Muthoni Nyaga noted that many trees have been cut down in the county leading to a change in the weather patterns in the county adding that the Kenya Scouts Movement in the County will embrace tree planting.
“We are going to embrace tree planting and because Kenya Scouts Association in Embu has a subscription of 30,000, each scout member will be expected to plant 40 trees and by this we will be able to meet the target of one million trees per year,”
She said that with the Kenya Scouts Association’s collaboration with the county in the tree planting exercise, the scouts will also be implementing their programme and all the scouts will be awarded environmental conservation badges.
Nyaga said that the mission of the Kenya Scouts Association in Embu collaborating with the County in tree planting exercise is to educate the scouts who are mostly school going children to play a constructive role in the society.
He added that the Kenya Scouts Association will boost the Governor’s plan to plant five million trees over the next five years.
By Justus Anzaya
