In a bid to combat environmental degradation in Maragua constituency, the political leadership led the community in a tree planting exercise at Karua forest, Iganjo Makuyu division of Murang’a County.
Maragua MP, Mary Waithera (Wamaua) who spearheaded the exercise urged residents to focus on growing and planting more trees to improve forest cover to reverse the adverse effects of climate change.
She asked residents to desist from engaging in wanton cutting down trees of trees warning that the trend impacted negatively on the ecosystem leading to extreme weather patterns including droughts and floods.
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“Notably you can see that a section of Karua forest has been heavily degraded but we will make tree planting a continuous exercise so that we can replenish it to achieve the desired forest cover” stated Wamaua.
She urged parents to teach their young ones on how to conserve the environment from early years so as to avert harsh climatic conditions like it has been recently witnessed.
This comes just days after the national tree growing and restoration campaign was launched by President William Ruto.
The tree planting drive is part of the government’s efforts to restore 10.6 million hectares of degraded landscapes in the country and as part of targets to achieve 30 percent forest cover by 2032.
At the same time Murang’a South deputy County Commissioner Gitonga Murungi underscored the need for all Kenyans to address the degradation of the environment at the forest.
“Let us all take be responsible and take the initiative and plant more trees for us and for the benefit of future generations” he said.
He announced that the chiefs and their assistants will carry out a tree planting and sensitization venture on a weekly basis across all the locations and sub locations.
At the expansive Karua forest,3500 seedlings of the exotic graveilla robusta and other indigenous tree seedlings were planted.
