The Kenya Forest Service will Monday take advantage of the specially gazetted National Tree Growing Day, to officially launch an aggressive campaign towards planting 15 billion trees across the country.
Kenyans will Monday enjoy a special holiday after the Cabinet on November 3, approved the same in a meeting in Mombasa.
KFS has encouraged Kenyans to plant as many trees as possible on Monday, assuring that county forest conservators (CFC), working in close collaboration with county commissioners and KFS staff across the country, are available to guide and provide technical support.
“Planting at least two trees each will translate to an average of 100 million trees by Kenyans in one day, KFS said in a statement on Saturday.
On Monday, a minimum of 10,000 trees will be grown in each of the selected county launch sites to be presided over by Cabinet secretaries and governors, and a minimum of 100,000 trees will be grown together with stakeholders and members of the public.
KFS asked members of the public to visit KFS forest stations and nearby tree nurseries to obtain tree seedlings.
On Saturday, the Council of Chairpersons of parastatals planted 2,000 trees at the Shimo la Tewa prison ground.
The Council of Chairpersons is made up of all the chairpersons of the 350 parastatals in the country.
However, on Saturday, 24 of them, mostly from the Coast region, led by Kenya Maritime Authority chair Hamisi Mwaguya and Kenya Ports Authority’s Benjamin Tayari, were at the tree planting ceremony.
The two said the tree planting ceremony was a show of unity among the chairs, and an example to the whole country to plant trees towards achieving the government 15-billion-trees-by-2030 target.
“Trees are an important aspect of addressing climate change. We do this because we need trees and afforestation and re-afforestation is the way to go,” Mwaguya said.
KFS, in a statement, said the public is encouraged to support groups engaged in seedlings production by purchasing seedlings from their nurseries.
“They can also purchase tree seedlings from nurseries operated by Community Forest Associations, Timber Manufacturers Associations, other government institutions and private tree nurseries,” the service said.
To track the trees, the KFS encouraged the public to record and upload all trees grown on the Jaza Miti App, to enable the government track the total number of trees grown.
The service said all corporate organisations, NGOs, farmers and individuals, are encouraged to engage in tree growing through the ‘adopt-a-forest’ framework.
Through this programme, KFS avails land for tree growing and provides technical guidance on suitable tree species and necessary silvicultural interventions for a successful mission.
“Lastly, the members of the public are hereby advised to make plans for securing and protecting the tree seedlings that they will grow to ensure a high survival rate. This includes provision for watering during periods of soil moisture scarcity,” KFS said.
Tree growing will continue throughout the rainy season to take full advantage of the enhanced rains in order to grow as many trees as possible, KFS said.