State reclaims over 100 acres of public wetland in Nandi

More than 100 acres of public wetland once used as a private area have been reclaimed in Nandi through an elaborate government multi-sectoral approach.

The campaign to repossess the wetlands peaked when President William Ruto ordered the aggressive national tree-planting exercise of 15 billion trees in the next ten years.

Leaders who spoke on Tuesday during the National Tree Growing exercise in Aldai lauded the Nandi community for accepting to surrender public wetlands for conservation measures.

Nandi South Deputy County Commissioner Mokin Ptanguny hailed successful public participation that ensured locals surrendered wetlands and other public spaces.

“We have engaged the members of the public through participatory engagement. We are still asking them to let spaces go once occupied for long,” Mokin said.

He praised Kipsiorori residents in Aldai for surrendering 58 acres of Matambaach wetland as a public conservation area.

“We are asking the members of the public across the board to vacate public spaces because we have the intention to put in programmatic interventions that are of national benefit,” he added.

The DCC said public land or space grabbed before should be surrendered for the government initiative interventions for public interest.

He said the accumulative tree-growing effort being done nationally is part of climate adaptation strategies.

“Strategy of planting trees is one of the ways of mitigating global warming effects that is cutting across  Africa and the world,” Mokin said.

Chief Officer in charge of Lands, Water, Environment and Climate Change Jonah Tireito said the County Government of Nandi with the help of Kenya Forest Service reclaimed 150 acres of wetlands in Tinderet, Chesumei, Emgwen and Aldai.

Tireito said it was an elaborate plan to ensure all the wetlands that cover Nandi are restored and put under conservation care.

“If we suffocate wetlands in Nandi, we will be destroying the livelihoods of people who are living down the stream,” he said.

He thanked the well-wishers who are funding the fencing of the reclaimed wetlands in Nandi and promised to ensure all planted trees are secure.

“We are asking our people to vacate all wetlands without interfering for the ecosystem to take its course,” Tireito said.

He thanked the communities around wetlands who have ventured into alternative livelihoods and allowed the government to reclaim the conservation points.

Nandi Forest Conservator Dennis Kerengo said the government was not encouraging agroforestry but asked them to embrace the cut and carry system which will grow alongside trees in conservation areas.

“It is a win-win situation, we encourage once these trees grow, local farmers can put in their beehives. We have talked to some NGOs around and they have agreed to help interested farmers with bee hives,” he said.

He urged the community to replace blue gum along the rivers with indigenous trees, bamboo and fruit trees.

“Our target is 40 per cent tree cover area but we are at 26 per cent,  we have a mammoth task as a community to achieve the target,” Kerengo said.

He appealed to residents to surrender public lands within the conservation sites, riparian, wetland and degraded hill slopes, especially in Tinderet.

“Let us stop cultivating slopes which are below 40 degrees and always follow the conservation advisories,” he added.

Kerengo said the number of trees grown in Nandi since the campaign began is approaching ten million and promised to achieve a 17 million target before the end of this year.

He said over 170 million trees in the ten years will be planted through an elaborate plan.

Kerengo reiterated that farmers should plant trees in every free space with unlimited options like avocados, macadamia and other environmentally friendly trees.

"Kenya Forest Service, National Government Administrative Officers, the County Government of Nandi, the Ministry of Information, Communications and Digital Economy and other stakeholders are ensuring Nandi reaches its annual target of 17 million trees," Kerengo said.

During the exercise, about 4000 indigenous trees were planted,  in an event attended by Nandi County Warden Augustine Langat.

He said indigenous trees should be planted in all wetlands and public forests to encourage a variety of bird species and animals which will attract tourists in the county.

The locals agreed to support the conserved wetland and lauded the public participation forums on the use of public wetlands which bore fruits as it resulted in a win-win arrangement.