Turkana County Commissioner Julius Kavita and Governor Jeremiah Lomorukai have emphasized the need for tree planting and nurturing to address the impacts of climate change.
The duo led a tree planting exercise at Missions of Hope Secondary School. The exercise was conducted as per the directives of the President that trees should be planted as a sign of remembering those that were adversely affected by floods.
According to Governor Lomorukai, the current forest cover in Turkana County stands at 10.8 percent adding that this is an indicator that more trees should be planted to meet the 30 percent target by 2032.
He urged every resident to plant and take care of a minimum of 30 trees every year to reverse the effects of climate change.
Lomorukai said since the beginning of long rains, Turkana County has distributed over 6,000 tree seedlings across the county. He said this activity will until the target of 100,000 tree seedlings is achieved during long rains.
Turkana County in collaboration with KFS and KEFRI have planted over 2,700 tree seedlings in public institutions.
County Commissioner Kavita urged Turkana residents to take advantage of the on-going rains and take part in tree planting activities to meet the target of 15 billion trees.
He said tree planting contributes significantly to the realization of the growth of 15 billion trees by 2032.
He also challenged those in public institutions to take part in tree planting.
Governor Lomorukai assured Turkana residents of his commitment in the actualization of tree planting across the county through the on-going programs in the department of Tourism, Culture, Natural Resources, Environment and Climate Change.
Turkana County government has established and operationalized 10 tree nurseries which have produced and transplanted over 1.5 million tree seedlings in Turkana County.
The County government has also committed 2 percent of development budget to climate change, mitigation and resilience building through Floca funds, botanical gardens and tree nurseries.
According to governor Lomorukai, the Turkana County Government intends to scale up conservation efforts in collaboration with the National government and development partners.
This will prioritize establishment of green spaces within Lodwar Municipality, establishment of community conservancies along cross border areas, control and management of Julllie flora (Etirae).
The development and operationalization of tree nurseries, transfer of the management of Turkana South National Reserve to Turkana County government and accelerated tree planting are among other initiatives of the county government.
Lomorukai also vowed to accelerate tree seedling production in Turkana County tree nurseries located at Kanamkemer, Kaitese, Lokichar, Kainuk, Lokori, Kakuma, Lokichoggio, Lokitaung and Kibish. This intervention will facilitate the improvement of Turkana County tree and forest cover thus enriching the ecosystem for the betterment of livelihoods.
According to him, tree planting will mitigate climate change, prevent soil erosion and promote biodiversity. In light of this his administration has outlined plans and adaptive measures to boost forest cover and combat climate change.
County Forest Conservator Richard Guya said the tree planting campaign aims at mitigating effects of climate change.
“We are emphasizing on growing trees as opposed to just planting trees because that is the only way the community will benefit from the trees planted,” said Guya.
He emphasized the need to nurture the trees to maturity saying each tree planted has been assigned a student to ensure it grows to maturity.
By Ngasike Ezekiel and Peter Gitonga
