Kenya: The Kenya Cabinet Secretary for Environment, Climate Change and Forestry, Soipan Tuya, yesterday held a media briefing focused on updating members of the public on reforms the Ministry is implementing in the management of public forests.
The briefing was followed by a tree planting exercise where members of the fourth estate joined hands with KFS Headquarter staff and members of the Friends of Karura Forest CFA in planting trees in Sigiria Block, Karura Forest, where this week, 7,000 seedlings in total have been planted.
CS Soipan, in her statement, urged Kenyans to keep growing trees in order to achieve the presidential directive of raising Kenya’s tree cover to 30% by growing 15 Billion trees by 2032.
She acknowledged the role of Forest Adjacent communities in the conservation and protection of ecosystems and called for more participation, urging them not take part in illegal forest activities and to be the first line of defence when it comes to such activities.
The CS also noted that the Road to 15 Billion will require the involvement and engagement of other Government Ministries, Departments, and Agencies, an avenue they are presently working on. The Ministry is also establishing 11 seed centres across the country, which will produce both indigenous seeds and fruit tree seeds to meet the high demand for seedlings in the country.
The Service will activate a multiagency crackdown team to mount an intense, targeted and sustained crackdown across all forest ecosystems in the country to end the rampant illegal logging of forests, encroachment and any other related activity, as directed by the CS, during the briefing.
In addition, the Service will also establish a 24-hour manned hotline for citizens to report illegal forest activities in their areas for fast response.
In line with this directive, the Ministry will enhance the capacity of Kenya Forest Service through human and economic resources for improved efficiency and effectiveness of the Service. The same can be seen through the recent recruitment of 1900 Forest Rangers and the ongoing recruitment of Ranger Cadets.
Also present during the briefing was DCCF Natural Forest Conservation Charity Munyasia, DCCF Drylands and Private Forest Development Coordination Dr Clement Ngoriareng, RFC Nairobi Joyce Nthuku, Principal CCF Noor Hussein, Dr Benjamin Kinyili, among other partner representatives.
