Until three years ago, communities adjacent to Mwambirwa and Mbololo forests in Taita Taveta county battled frequent cases of bushfires and logging.
This derailed afforestation efforts thus reducing the once dense forest to a shell of its former self.
However, logging has reduced significantly and a young canopy of forest is coming up.
The establishment of the New Mwambo Community Forest Association; a group of community members involved in conservation of the key ecosystems, has played a major role in the restoration.
Hannington Mwakatini, Mwambo CFA chairperson, said members are actively engaging in planting as many many trees as possible in the vast forest.
Their efforts have borne fruit as water catchments that depend on the forest have improved.
"This is a community led programme that seeks to restore the forest. We are working with community groups to restore the ecosystem," Mwakatini said.
Established under the Forest Conservation and Management Act, CFAs allow local communities to participate in the management and conservation of forests.
They educate communities on proper planting techniques and essential care practices to maximise tree survival rates.
Mwakatini said the tree planting challenge has been extended from forest to homes, farms, learning institutions and churches.
"We took advantage of the recent El Nino rains to plant more trees not only in the forest but also in our homes," he said.
Alex Ngure, a member of the association said the team is planting indigenous trees in the forest and fruit trees in their farms in a bid to boost food security while conserving the environment.
"There is more emphasis on agroforestry to help develop the community, build resilience and adapt to the impacts of climate change," he said.
Ngure asked Kenya Forest Service to deploy forest guards to support afforestation efforts and crack cartels involved in destruction of two major forests.
"The main challenge is that we do not have a forest guard here. The forest is very vast and there is need for concerted efforts to safeguard this major water tower," he said.
Mwambirwa, one of the county's largest forests, serves as a major water tower for hundreds of residents living in lowlands of Voi and Mwatate constituencies and the expansive Tsavo East National Park.
The forest is one of the areas earmarked for a county 10-year tree-planting challenge that targets to grow millions of trees.
Taita Taveta government has hatched an ambitious goal for every resident to plant at least 100 trees annually for the next decade.
This plan will result in planting and growing of approximately 360 million trees by 2032.
It will also help in restoring 360,000 hectares (889,579 acres) of degraded land.
Taita Taveta government is working with other players to ensure success of the '100 trees per person every year campaign'.
Environment executive Grantone Mwandawiro said the programme will help actualise the extensive tree-growing plan.
"This is a groundbreaking move to combat the devastating effects of climate change. The ambitious initiative aims to encourage every individual to plant a minimum of 100 trees annually for the next decade, to significantly increase the county’s forest and tree cover," Mwandawiro told the Star.
Partners working with the county to restore degraded land include Taita Taveta Wildlife Conservancies Association, Chyulu Development Foundation and Japan International Cooperation Agency.
Others are national government agencies, religious organisations and community groups.
Mwandawiro said the campaign will make a significant contribution towards President William Ruto’s target of planting 15 billion trees nationwide by 2032.
The campaign aims at reducing greenhouse emissions, stopping and reversing deforestation.
Trees play a crucial role in reversing climate change through carbon sequestration, a process where they absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and store it in their biomass.
The department has also initiated a programme to recognise and reward individuals who have excelled in tree-growing endeavours.
"We are actively engaging community members through community based organisations to ensure the trees grow to maturity and contribute to the restoration of the landscapes," Mwandawiro said.
Further, the department is putting in place a Participatory Forestry Management Plan to empower community members by granting them user rights for utilisation of forest products, bolstering their economic resilience.
The county government has since allocated Sh2 million to fund growing of trees along the county's main roads.
The roadside greening projects targets to reach 275km.
It will cover parts of Mombasa-Nairobi highway between the border towns of Mtito Andei and Mackinnon Road. It will also extend to Voi- Taveta highway.
“This initiative will not only beautify our highways but also position our county as a global tourist destination and be emulated by other counties,” Mwandawiro said.
Peter Mwangi, the Kenya Forests Service county conservator said the project will increase the county’s forest cover.
The current forest cover stands at a mere 3.4 per cent, while the tree cover is at 8 per cent.
The county aims to raise the numbers to 10 per cent and 30 per cent by 2032.
To facilitate the monitoring and tracking of tree-planting efforts, the officer encouraged residents to register with the Jaza Miti app.
This innovative software allows individuals to record each time they plant a tree, contributing to an accurate record of the community’s tree-planting achievements.
Mwangi further warned residents against charcoal burning practices, pointing out that it degrades land and contradicts tree-growing campaigns.
He said cutting down trees exacerbates the devastating effects of climate change and desertification and should be stopped.
Nema county director George Oyoo assured a sustained partnership to ensure the planted seedlings are nurtured to maturity.
Tree planting, he said, has emerged as a powerful sustainable solution to mitigate the adverse effects of climate change and reduce environmental degradation.
Oyoo said the authority will engage community groups to monitor the progress of the already planted trees and ensure a high survival rate.
According to the Taita Taveta Wildlife Conservancies Association CEO Alfred Mwanake said the association is on a roadmap to grow at least 1 million trees in the vast rangelands.
He said TTWCA will team up with Taita Taveta government and Absa Bank to undertake the project.
Mwanake encouraged women and youths to establish nurseries as a source of seedlings, which could also boost their livelihoods.
“As we look to restore the degraded land, we’re also committed to empowering the local communities. We are looking forward to safeguarding our environment by growing at least 1 million trees as we actively work towards increasing our forest cover as a county and country at large,” the CEO said.
He called for concerted efforts to restore degraded land and attain the country's forest cover target.
Idris Mohammed, a conservationist and environment activist said stringent measures need to be put in place for the tree growing campaign to succeed.
He said such campaigns have failed to reach the expected target before despite public resources being used to fund them.
"We've had numerous campaigns on tree planting over the years. The most recent ones being Greening Kenya Initiative and the Accelerated National Tree Growing Campaign in 2010 and 2022 respectively," Mohammed pointed out.
The founder of Save our environment organisation said the Constitution of Kenya 2010 has given countries an upper hand to help manage community lands and restore degraded land.
Currently, he said, most of the policies supporting environmental conservation are at county level and therefore, devolved units stand a better chance to meet their tree growing targets.