2.86%-The Magic Number

 The Journey

On the 14th of April 2016, Kenya launched the 20 Million Trees for Kenya’s Forests Campaign, with more than 450 people attending the launch. In attendance were the representatives of the national government, Kenya forest service, and local community group members among Kenyans of other walks of life. In a bid to ensure responsible planting and caring of the trees, various initiatives have been started to help increase the tree cover in the country. Such initiatives include; My 20 Trees and me Growing Up together, an initiative that encourages young children to plant trees and take care of them for twenty years. The main objective of the 20 million trees campaign was to plant 20 million trees around and in Mount Kenya and the water towers, due to their vital role in ensuring the supply of water to our rivers. According to the International Tree Foundation, Kenya is among the least forested countries in Africa, with its tree cover being 7.14%, equating to 67 trees per person, which is way below the global average of 420. 

(Image courtesy of ITF)

This value is down from 18% in the early 1960s, and it signifies a worrying trend, that calls for urgent intervention. Between the 1960s and 1990s, Kenya suffered severe deforestation, majorly due to illegal logging and charcoal burning. In the twentieth century, a combination of poor agricultural practices, charcoal burning, and timber harvesting plays a big role in the destruction of forests. Another initiative, dubbed Reforest’Action joined hands with the local communities and a local NGO, Trees For Kenya around the Mount Kenya region to restore the degraded parts of the water tower. The focus was to restore the forest while at the same time improving the socioeconomic status of the community through the creation of income from the planted trees.  Another organization known as JustOneTree partnered with the International Tree Foundation in the “20 Million Trees for Kenya’s Forests” initiative, with the main aim of planting trees in and around Kenya’s water towers.

 

(Photo Credit: ReforestAction)

In 2014, President Uhuru Kenyatta launched the Green Schools program, under which all schools were to have 10% of their land covered by trees. The program whose intent is to nurture young children to be future conservationists is aimed at assisting schools to implement environmental education programs that entail school environmental sustainability projects and practical actions

 (Photo Credit: Kenya Environmental Education Network)

Several public water companies in Nakuru County have also been at the forefront in ensuring an increased tree cover. In 2019, these utilities including, Nakuru rural water and Sanitation Company, Nakuru Water and Sanitation Company, Rift valley waterworks and development agency, & Water services providers association, launched a reforestation program in the East Mau forest where more than 6000 trees were planted. Another project dubbed WeForest on realizing the importance of livelihood of the people in the conservation of forest resources launched a project geared toward the restoration of native forests and promoting biodiversity, sustainable exploitation, and economic development. The main aim was poverty alleviation and had it at the heart of the restoration efforts of Mount Kenya’s forests. The project led to the establishment of such activities as beekeeping, horticulture, agroforestry, and wetland protection among others. Net fund in conjunction with the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources, 2018, planted 12, 000 seedlings in Marsabit, Isiolo, Narok, and Machakos Counties, and a further 7000 seedlings were distributed to the community groups. Reforestation and environmental conservation cannot be talked about without the mention of the Environment champion, the late Professor Wangari Maathai, the founder of the Green Belt Movement. Since its inception in 1977, the movement has planted over 51 million trees in Kenya.

National Tree Planting

Every year, on April 21st Kenya, holds its National Tree Planting day. It started as Arbor day in 1872 in the Nebraska United States of America, gaining official status in 1885. It was later adopted by the English-speaking countries as National Tree Planting Day. In the 20th century, other countries adopted the celebration. The first national tree planting day in Kenya was in 1964, when our founding father the late Mzee Jomo Kenyatta, planted a Mugumo tree in Nairobi's Uhuru Gardens.

 (Photo Credit: Ministry of Environment and Natural resources)

In May 2018, H.E. President Uhuru Kenyatta acknowledged the fact that forests account for 4% of the country’s GDP, and in his own words claimed that, in that dependence lay the trouble, pointing out the low tree cover which at that time was 7%. The aim is to reach the 10% mark, implying that we are behind the global minimum by 2.86%.

Following the President’s decree in 2018, Kenya Water Institute in partnership with, Lake Victoria South Water Works Development Agency, and a million tree march, on 12th December 2020 planted 2500 tree seedlings at Lambwe forest. The move was geared toward the restoration of the Lambwe forest in Homabay County, which is an important ecological zone in the Western region. Presiding over the exercise were the Director of Kenya Water institute, Professor Patrick Hayombe, Lake Victoria South Water Works Development Agency, Ms. Miriam Siwa, and a host of other dignitaries from the ministry of water.

We are almost there; 2022 should be the year that we celebrate environmental liberation. It should be the year that we all look back and appreciate our efforts toward reducing the 2.86% mark and hitting the global minimum of 10%. Inawezena!!