Kilifi County Governor Gideon Mung’aro has announced plans to plant over one million trees in Kilifi in an effort to tame the harsh effects of climate change in the region.
Mung’aro’s remarks comes in the wake of President William Ruto’s plan to grow 15 billion trees in every part of Kenya to combat the effects of climate change, which he unveiled during Jamhuri day commemoration yesterday at Nyayo stadium in Nairobi
Speaking during the regional Jamhuri day celebration at Jaribuni in Kilifi, Mung’aro explained that climate change has remained one of the biggest challenges facing the current generation which is experiencing frequent and long droughts never seen before.
He termed its effects as severe and unforgiving and therefore warned that the time to find a permanent solution, including planting trees is now.
“As part of the plan to restore our environment, we are setting a goal to plant one million trees of all kinds including fruit-bearing trees this year to mitigate the severe effects of climate change”, he said.
He added that his leadership will involve children in schools in the tree planting project and urged school heads to encourage the children to plant fruit-bearing trees such as mango trees so that they can benefit from the nutritional value of the fruits as well as restoring the environment.
He also disclosed his plan to restore the nature of Mwangea hill in Ganze, which was the main rain catcher in the region but due to deforestation, the area and other parts of Ganze have remained bare and dry.
“My administration is engaging partners and friends to unite in restoring the glory of Mwangea hill as well as Sokoke forest,” he said.
Mung’aro added that the County Executive is investigating issues on climate change to formulate and present a bill to the county assembly to create policies that will help control the climate change situation.
Recently, the county government signed an agreement with the World Bank through the national government which will see it receive Sh 360 million in the next three years to help preserve the environment in the County.
As the governor strives to bring more partners on board, his administration has worked with Green Umbrella organization to plant 500,000 trees in Malindi and Magarini this year.
By Jackson Msanzu
