Makueni county's Department of Lands through the Directorate of Environment has launched a campaign to grow one million trees in the October-November-December rain season.
The exercise is part of a greater initiative by the County Government of Makueni to plant and grow 344 million trees by 2032 to restore degraded landscapes and forests.
The exercise was launched by Lands CEC Japheth Mang’oka, assisted by Chief Officer Geoffrey Muthoka and representatives of Kenya Forest Service, Kenya Forest Research Institute and Community Forest Association at Kalumbi Forest in Mbitini Ward, Makueni subcounty.
Acting Director, Climate Change, Jackline Kamusa said a greater percentage of the seedlings are fruit trees which will be given to farmers to ensure food resilience in the wake of climate change.
To weed out the menacing illegal felling of trees for charcoal and timber, Mang’oka said the county government has enlisted the support of Community Forest Associations for policing and intelligence sharing on the perpetrators of environmental destruction.
The county has in recent years borne the brunt of wanton tree destruction for charcoal burning, which has engendered perennial droughts, reduced food production and triggered human-wildlife conflicts.
Governor Mutula Kilonzo Jnr declared this wanton destruction of forests an act of economic sabotage.
He said some of the culprits are responsible for lighting forest fires so as to get an opportunity to harvest matured timber, while causing untold suffering to thousands of residents in the aftermath.
Kilonzo said his administration has utilised the Community Forest Associations to quell the menace of forest destruction with a great deal of success, though much remains to be done.
Before the establishment, of the associations, the county used to witness forest fires that would burn for days, damaging thousands of acres of forests.
Makueni county's one million tree initiative compliments President William Ruto's vision for the country to grow 15 billion trees by 2032.
The National Tree Growing Restoration Campaign launched in December 2022, aims to increase the country's forest cover from 12 per cent to 30 per cent.
The campaign has several objectives, including reducing greenhouse emissions, stopping and reversing deforestation, restoring deforested and degraded landscapes, and Improving livelihoods.
