Kenyans enjoy a national holiday to plant 100 million trees

This Monday, Kenyans enjoy a declared national holiday to plant trees by the country’s Government, which has encouraged each citizen to plant at least two to reach a total of 100 million throughout its territory.

“Natural resources, particularly forests, play a crucial role in maintaining the balance of ecosystems, improving biodiversity and maintaining the livelihoods of people and communities in our country”Kenyan President William Ruto said today through the social network X (formerly Twitter).

The president inaugurated the planting day in Makueni county (south), while the different Kenyan ministers were sent to other regions to lead the exercise there.

The day, declared a national holiday last week by the Minister of the Interior, Kithure Kindiki, is part of the Kenyan Executive’s plan to plant 15 billion trees by 2032.

“We should take up tree cultivation as a national duty, given the importance of trees in improving livelihoods and boosting our resilience against climate change.” climate change”declared last Tuesday the Minister of the Environment, Soipan Tuya.

On the occasion of this day, the Kenyan Government has made seedlings (first stages of development of a plant) available to the population for free, although it also encouraged Kenyans to buy them from private businesses to support them.

“I would like to urge my fellow citizens to, in the true Kenyan spirit, buy one or two seedlings from these community nurseries and plant them on our lands,” commented Tuya.

To count the trees planted today, authorities asked Kenyans to record the activity in an application that allows details such as location and species to be specified, in addition to recommending the appropriate trees according to the chosen area.

The day was received with skepticism by environmentalists, as it came after Ruto’s decision last July to withdraw the ban imposed since 2018 on the felling of public and community forests in the country.

“Destroying the forest with one hand and planting trees with the other is not the solution, but a distraction,” Tracy Makheti, an NGO forest protection activist in Africa, lamented in a statement.

Thus, Greenpeace stressed that the level of carbon dioxide that young trees can absorb is lower than that stored by natural and ancient forests.

“While we encourage all Kenyans to participate in the tree planting exercise (…), we urge authorities to share their reforestation plans to ensure they are carried out equally and adhere to scientific standards,” Makheti asserted.

In mid-October, a Kenyan court stopped the withdrawal of the ban, declaring it “unconstitutional, null and void” because it lacked “public participation”.

While activists have warned about the devastating consequences that this measure could have for the environment, local media have reported how communities dependent on the sector, especially in the center of the country, have been greatly harmed by the rule in recent years.

Kenya imposed a temporary ban on tree felling in February 2018 to curb the destruction of forests, which play an important role in water conservation and filtration, when the country was experiencing a severe drought.

According to the latest official report published last year, Kenya has experienced a recovery in its tree cover to exceed the 12%, while the forest cover is located in a 8.8%.