The government has been urged to extend the ban on logging to reclaim forests after a lengthy period of massive destruction in the country.
The Chairman of Choromai Foundation, a Nongovernmental organisation operating in Nyeri County, John Kariuki on Wednesday said the ban should be upheld until the country had adequate trees for harvesting.
Kariuki was speaking at Karandi Forest, Kieni constituency when he led the locals in conjunction with the Kenya Forest Service (KFS) officials in a tree planting exercise that saw about 3,200 indigenous tree seedlings planted.
“I want to urge the government to continue banning this logging so that we can have enough trees and forests in the area,” Kariuki noted.
The Chairman urged Kenyans to support President Uhuru Kenyatta’s call to plant more trees for the country to realise the recommended global forest cover of 10 per cent.
He noted that Mt Kenya region was an agricultural area adding that if logging is lifted, the area risked famine as rains fail and so do crops.
“At the moment, we are way below the forest cover and we can see how the environment is behaving,” kariuki observed.
The Chairman expressed fear that the area risked experiencing continued droughts if the locals fail to plant more trees.
He at the same time, urged the people to at least plant ten trees in their farms during every rainy season.
Kariuki added that the organisation would launch a “Forest within the Forest’ programme that would see people planting all tree species found in Mt. Kenya forest.
Speaking during the same occasion, the Chairman of Mt. Kenya Forest, Sospeter Mwangi
appealed to the area KFS department and locals to ensure the seedlings were protected to maturity.
By Mwangi Gaitha
