Thika Town sub-county Deputy Forestry officer John Kariuki has raised concerns over the rate at which the sub-county is losing its tree cover.
Speaking in his Thika Town office on Tuesday, Kariuki said that the sub-county was losing trees at an alarming rate without any efforts to replace them.
"This is disastrous. We have been doing all our best to sensitise residents about the effects of massive cut down of trees. Apparently, not much has changed," Kariuki said.
Kariuki said that his department has been issuing tree seedlings to residents which he said may not help in the short-run if the cut down of trees is not scaled down. The officer observed that a large section of the sub-county's eastern part was semi-arid with areas of Gatuanyaga and Ngoliba receiving minimal rainfall annually.
"We now risk having the whole of this sub-county turn semi-arid. The trend may continue that way till the whole of Kiambu County can no longer receive sufficient rainfall," said Kariuki. He has now called on all stakeholders to come together and try and reduce the deforestation activities in the county.
"Thika sub-county is becoming urbanised at a very high rate which is one of the reasons we are losing much of our tree cover. Stakeholders, big and small, must come together and address this problem before it is too late," he said.