Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi has called on Kenyans to support the ongoing tree-planting exercise.
Mudavadi urged Kenyans to plant at least one tree on June 1 in commemoration of the country's self-internal rule.
He spoke at Egerton University, Njoro campus in Nakuru county when he led the planting of 10,000 trees at an allocated 5 acres piece of land owned by the institution.
Mudavadi said the country should make efforts towards fighting the global warming pandemic that is turning out to be a global catastrophe.
"We want all Kenyans to be part of this adopt a forest initiative, tunza miti ili ilikutunze. If every one of the 40 million Kenyans plants one or two trees during this year’s Madaraka Day, we will hit the 60 million mark in a day. This will go hand in hand with us celebrating the 60 years since when we attained independence,” Mudavadi said.
The CS said the government’s target of planting at least 15 billion trees by 2032, will only be realized if concerted efforts are pulled together by the government, stakeholders and citizens.
He said Kenyans should embrace the initiative since the effects of global warming affect everyone.
He said climate change is not only a threat to human life but also to animals and other living things including food.
"Statistics show the global standard temperatures rose by 3 degrees as a result of global warming. This is a sign that global warming is a real threat to life now and in the near future,” he said.
“Under the Ministry of Environment, Climate Change and Forestry, we are targeting every Kenyan to at least plant 300 trees in the next 10 years, which reflects planting at least 30 trees annually for us to achieve our target by 2032," he said.
The CS said for the country to be food secure, Kenyans have to work together towards conserving the environment.
"We have experienced as a country the worst drought situation in over 40 years whereby statistics show that at least 2.5 million herds of livestock lost life with a decrease of 20 million bags of maize harvest from 50 million to 30 million bags in the last harvest. This should be an awakening call for us as a country," he said.
Mudavadi lauded Egerton University management for standing out and stepping forward as one of the key institutions that are partnering with the government to realize the much-needed forest cover under trees in the country.
He says such partnerships are a gateway towards encouraging Kenyans to support the government’s initiative.
Mudavadi said his office will scale up its engagements with the university to ensure that such initiatives are supported from time to time.