Residents of Kisumu have been asked to embrace the use of energy saving jikos as a way of minimising the use of charcoal thus saving trees from depletion.
The county Executive in-charge of of Energy and Mining advised the area residents to use charcoal sparingly saying it will be the only way to reduce much strain on trees for fuel.
According to Ms Lillian Atieno, it is a concern from the county government that there has been indiscriminate cutting down of trees in the county of late, warning that Kisumu risks suffering from global warming if the vice is not tamed.
She added that the only way to avoid that is ensuring that people use energy saving jikos in order to use small amount of charcoal.
"We as a county government are concerned with the state of indiscriminate cutting of trees in the area to produce charcoal. We are at risk of losing our forest cover should we continue like this. This is not good for the county and I urge all our residents to embrace the use of energy saving jikos that do not consume too much charcoal," Atieno said in Kisumu on Saturday.
She also said the county government is going to undertake sensitisation programs to enlighten people on the importance of preserving forests even as the county government is going to put some laws in place to deal with the issue of careless tree cutting.
Atieno said in future, the county government will consider employing forest rangers to deal with the menace of forest encroachment.