Mama Rachael Ruto has urged university students to develop innovative technology-driven solutions that will boost her National Landscape and Ecosystem Restoration campaign.
The campaign is geared towards planting 500 million trees, a strategy that will fast-track the actualisation of the vision by President William Ruto to grow 15 billion trees by 2032.
Speaking at Catholic University of Eastern Africa on Monday, the First Lady asked students to be environmental champions in the communities they come from.
“Use every opportunity to plant 30 trees per year, a target that will see the nation progressively achieve a 30 per cent cover,” the First Lady said.
Principal Secretary Beatrice Inyangala said higher institutions of learning are working closely with the government to prepare students for jobs and enterprise opportunities in the green economy.
Inyangala is the PS, State Department for Higher Education and Research at the Ministry of Education.
Present during the event included Alexander Oketch, Advisor to the Apostolic Nuncio, Regional Director at General Electric Stephen Mbugua Ngari and management, staff and students at Catholic University of Eastern Africa.
Mama Rachel officially launched the First Lady’s Landscape and Ecosystem Restoration Strategy and implementation plan.
The plan incorporates women, youth and learners. It advocates for green financing to bridge funding gaps in restoration activities.
It also incorporates agroforestry, promotes green jobs and nature-based enterprises, and encourages women and youth to participate in the green and circular economies.
The testing and validation process of the strategy has seen approximately three million trees grown in forests and in learning institutions.
Additionally, the First Lady has adopted 200 hectares at Kakamega Forest in Shikusa Block for restoration.
The Kenya Kwanza’s Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda (BETA) is further prioritising the growing of fruit trees and woodlots on farmlands and in institutions such as schools, colleges, and universities.
The government targets to have 30 per cent of the 15 billion trees as fruit trees.
This is in an effort to improve nutritional and food security, create employment and spur social-economic development.