A non-governmental organization has embarked on an initiative targeting to plant 5 million trees in Homa Bay county over the next five years.
The organization dubbed the Sigona Thomas Foundation endeavors to increase the county’s forest cover to mitigate climate change.
The Foundation’s Chief Executive Officer Kepha Otieno said the initiative was also intended to curb environmental degradation from soil erosion.
He said that the initiative was in line with President William Ruto’s directive for growing at least 15 billion trees across the country by 2030.
He noted that Homa Bay, which has 3.18 percent of tree cover, was listed among the counties with low in forest cover in Kenya.
The official spoke during a tree planting exercise at Ambassador Pamela Mboya Girls Secondary School in Suba North constituency.
County Director of Climate Change Roy Odongo said they were engaging in such partnerships to increase the county forest cover and protect the environment.
During the exercise, more than 500 trees were planted in the school.
“We’re calling upon Homa Bay residents to form a habit of growing trees. This will not only help the county improve its forest cover to 10 percent but also protect the environment,” Odongo said.
The Director said they were going to establish community tree nurseries to enable residents access seedlings for planting.
He said at least one tree nursery would be established in each of the eight constituencies in the county.
Planting of trees would be undertaken in gazetted government forests, hills, public lands and institutions such as schools and colleges.
“Through this partnership, we target to plant more than five million trees in the next five years. Growing of trees will help us mitigate the adverse effects of climate change,” he added.
Otieno urged members of the public to come together and support the programme by turning up whenever they were called up on.
He said Kenya Forest Service and other national government departments have agreed to work with them in the initiative.
“The greening of Homa Bay and the country will be realized when people come together. We’re still ready to partner with others to ensure we achieve the agenda,” Otieno said.
The foundation also donated sanitary towels to more than 480 girls in the school.
In addition, five bright but needy students were paid for a bursary amounting to Sh30, 000 to support their education.
