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Kenyans urged to continue with tree planting

The CS said the country should work towards going beyond the required 10 per cent forest cover in a country/COURTESY

NAIROBI, Kenya, Apr 29 – The tree planting campaign launched by the Ministry of Forestry and Environment in March 7 this year has continued to gain momentum with 2,000 tree seedlings planted on Saturday at Michuki Park located alongside Nairobi River.

Speaking after officiating the planting exercise, Cabinet Secretary for Forestry and Environment Keriako Tobiko urged Kenyans to continue with the tree planting and noted that it was everyone’s responsibility to conserve and take care of the environment.

“We must preserve this planet not for our children and not even for our children’s children but this is our moral obligation that we have. The trees that we plant today will not mature until 30 – 40 years so we are not doing it for ourselves but for the future generation,” he said.

The CS said the country should work towards going beyond the required 10 per cent forest cover in a country.

According to the Kenya Natural Resources Alliance (KeNRA), the national forest cover grew from 5.3 per cent in 2013 to 7 per cent in 2017.

Similar sentiments were shared during the event by NIC bank Chairman James Ndegwa, who said that time was long overdue for people to continue complaining on environmental degradation but rather it was time for action to be taken.

Ndegwa further said the country’s environmental situation wasn’t appealing with rivers drying up and others falling under the shame of pollution such as Nairobi River.

“The fact is that the responsibility of environment conservation is collective and disowning it even in the view of others is not an option. The sad reality is that the state of Nairobi River has deteriorated after the passing of John Michuki and to be honest it is once again a shame and a place to be ignored,” Ndegwa said.

However he noted that all was not lost especially after a task force was commissioned by Deputy President William Ruto on March 5 tasked with the mandate of reviewing forestry management.

The tree planting exercise was the second one for NIC Bank with another 4,000 trees having been planted at Ngong Hills last week under an initiative dubbed ‘Change the Story.’

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