The Cabinet Secretary for East Africa Community, Arid and Semi-Arid Lands and Regional Development Beatrice Askul has urged the residents of Busia to plant more trees to promote environmental conservation.
In a speech read on her behalf by the Administrative Secretary at the State Department of East Africa Community, Susan Waweru at Bunyala technical institute where at least 5500 trees were planted at Port Victoria forest station, Askul expressed the department’s determination to achieve its target to increase forest cover in the country.
“Our commitment is to plant 5 million trees this year and to date, we have already managed to plant at least 1.4 million trees with Busia County accounting for 50,000 trees”.
She noted that the health and prosperity of the community were directly linked to the health of the environment there by indicating the need of planting many trees and conserving the environment.
“These trees are not merely aesthetic additions to our landscape, they are the very lungs of our earth, playing crucial role in regulating our climate, purifying our air and water and preventing soil erosion,” she said
The CS indicated that the solution to environmental degradation should be a collective responsibility by all stakeholders for posterity in an effort to mitigate the effects of climate change.
Busia County Commissioner Mwachaunga Chaunga urged residents to embrace planting trees that produce fruits.
“We are happy that the residents have embraced planting of trees. Every homestead has a tree planted. I want you to plant trees that produce fruits too because of the benefits with it. This will provide food, firewood, timber, shade and other benefits,’ he said.
Mwachaunga reminded the local residents to ensure that all the tree seedlings are posted on the jaza miti app through their area chiefs for proper records.
Busia County Forest Conservator Branice Wanyonyi stated that staff at Port Victoria forest will ensure that the planted trees have been taken care of.
“Today we have planted 5,500 tree seedlings. Our target is to plant 20,000 trees and we are determined that before the rain session ends, we will have planted the remaining trees. In Bunyala, we have 601 acres of land under the forest.” She said
Busia County Red Cross Coordinator James Akello said that their organization is targeting to plant 200,000 trees across Busia County.
“We are going to use Red-cross clubs and chapters in our primary and secondary schools together with the TVETS to plant trees and ensure that they are well taken care of,’ he said, adding that local communities and women groups will not be left behind in achieving the target.
Busia County Director of National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) Cliff Barkatch in his address issued a warning to residents against the use of banned plastic bags.
“Plastic bags are banned in this country but we have noticed that some people are still using them. I want to warn that when you will be found using, the law will take its cause. Some traders are now in court after we arrested them at Bumala market. We should also remove all the asbestos roofs because they are endangering our lives.”
The tree planting exercise is a national Government initiative targeting to plant 15 billion trees by the year 2032.
By Salome Alwanda and Rodgers Omondi
