Kajiado County residents have been urged to plant trees during the short rains season in a bid to improve the Country’s forest cover.
Principal Secretary for State Department of Public Works, Paul Maringa said the Government is committed to meet a target of 10 percent forest cover across the country by 2020.
Maringa was speaking at Ngong PCEA Secondary School, Kajiado County, Saturday when he led a tree planting exercise
He reiterated that the 10 percent forest cover is achievable if all Kenyans take advantage during every rainy season to plant trees within homesteads, schools, forest zones, churches and along the rivers.
“We are committed in ensuring a 100 percent environment protection across the country by planting more trees,” said the PS adding, “We cannot afford to deplete our forest cover further as a Country if we love our future generations.”
He said the State Department of Public Works has partnered with other Government agencies in response to President Uhuru Kenyatta’s call for all Parastatals to set aside 10 percent of their annual budget for tree planting.
The PS said the department targets to plant 10,000 trees during the ongoing short rains. “We have already planted 2000 trees in Kathiani, Machakos County,” he noted.
He said every County should plant one million trees each year which that would translate to 47 million trees per year. “With this move we are assured of improving the seven percent forest cover to 10 percent as a country,” added the PS.
Maringa said his department also intended to plant trees within protected zones like school compounds in order to ensure sustainability of the trees to maturity.
He said most of the tree planting exercises done along the roads and open areas without prior proper planning have failed to mature since they were destroyed easily.
“Planting of trees is a major investment that should be carried out in a properly planned process to enable us to hit the target of 10 percent by 2020,” he said.
The PS lauded National Construction Authority for partnering with his department to plant trees, arguing that without properly managed environmental conservation, building industry will be jeopardized.
Similarly, Kajiado North Sub-County Deputy County Commissioner, Tom Anjere praised the move by Government institutions to take the lead in tree planting exercise.
DCC noted that the public will come out in numbers to participate in the tree planting process since they were assured of Government support.
“We challenge all institutions in Kajiado both private and public to take advantage of short rains to plant trees since the County is already experiencing rains,” said Anjere
By Nelly Kosgey
Kajiado Residents urged to plant trees during the short rains period
