Kenyan government declared 13 November to be National Tree Planting Day in order to encourage the planting of a hundred million trees
By
Now this is the sort of public holiday we like. In Kenya, the government has declared 13 November to be National Tree Planting Day, and the day has been turned into a public holiday to encourage planting a hundred million trees.
Part of the Kenyan government’s plan to tackle climate change is to plant a massive 15 billion trees within the next decade and the public holiday declared this week, in which every citizen has been encouraged to plant two tree saplings, is a part of that initiative.
The Kenyan government has made around 150 million seedlings available to the public for free at tree nurseries and forestry centres. These saplings can then be planted on public land. In addition, the government is encouraging Kenyans to purchase seedlings of their own to plant on their own land.
In order to ensure that the correct tree species are planted in habitats suitable for them, the government has launched an app called Jaza Miti (Fill the Trees). So that the government can monitor the tree planting programme, the app also records where and when trees have been planted and the species. Although the holiday was announced at very short notice, by the evening before the holiday the app had already recorded two million registrations.
Kenyan President William Ruto, who led the tree planting scheme, said: ‘Conservation of the environment is the urgent and collective responsibility of our time’.
The government aims to increase tree and forest cover in Kenya by 30 per cent by 2032. But, some critics point out that the government is encouraging people to plant more trees while recently lifting a six-year moratorium on logging in public and community forests. The government claims that this was done to curb Kenya’s high unemployment rates and increase economic development in rural regions.
The tree planting scheme – and the new public holiday – has been well received by a majority of Kenyans. However, the idea of asking every citizen to plant two trees, although commendable, is never likely to be completely feasible. For example, government officials acknowledge that many city residents are unlikely to be able to plant trees. The tree planting exercise was also originally intended to cover the entire nation, but because of severe flooding in the northeast of the country, the planting scheme was postponed there.
Two days after the holiday a government spokesperson announced that 150 million trees were planted on National Tree Planting Day, but that of these only 10 million had been recorded through the Jaza Miti app.
Related articles:
