Nakuru County has embarked on a mission to plant a million trees this year. The move is in a bid to counter destructive human activities that have had immense effect on the ecosystem
Through the Department of Environment, Natural Resources and Energy, the county will oversee planting of tree seedlings by residents in farmlands, public institutions, roadsides, arboretums, urban recreational parks and gazetted forests across all sub counties in Nakuru.
Speaking on Monday at Kirobon High School during the 2015 national tree planting ceremony, Nakuru governor Kinuthia Mbugua, in a speech read on his behalf by the County Executive member (CEC) for Environment Mr Richard Rop, encouraged the residents to take part in this exercise, which will put the county as the benchmark for other counties.
“It is vital for every citizen to take it as his sole responsibility to take care of the environment. This course is ideal for ensuring that Nakuru County stands out as the pacesetter for other counties and the world at large. This may be a little but significant step in realising a greener, cleaner Nakuru county,” he noted.
Mbugua also noted there are threats on forests and encroachment on natural resources, thus necessitating the need to put up some remedial and reconstructive measures to counter this.
“Today Kenya’s forests stand at 6.99 per cent which is way below the required minimum coverage of 10 per cent of our land mass. Planting trees on small scale at an individual or group level is indicative of an initiative to contribute to the national forest coverage,” he added.