As the National Tree Growing Day kicked off in mid-November, the private sector players led by several captains of industry joined the exercise geared at facilitating the planting and nurturing of more than 15 billion trees by the year 2032. And captains of industry have sought to address the need to fight the impacts of climate change the way they know best.
In Murang’a County, employees of agribusiness company, Kakuzi led by managing director Chris Flowers, joined Ithanga and Murang’a South Sub County residents in planting more than 400 indigenous trees donated by the company.
Additionally, as part of the Nginye Valley rehabilitation campaign in Ithanga Sub County, the company confirmed plans to plant 500 more indigenous trees as part of the rehabilitation initiative with a 10,000-tree planting target.
“All the trees donated from our agroforestry nurseries will be nurtured to maturity in close collaboration with the local community,” Mr Flowers said.
In Nandi County, Eastern Produce Kenya (EPK) leadership joined the local residents in planting more than 2,500 indigenous tree seedlings in Kamkong division. The company also participated in a tree-growing exercise at Kapkongony Swamp in Chesumei.
In Makueni County, KCB is leading the greening agenda by donating 8,000 tree seedlings to Kiu Wetlands in Makindu. This is part of the lender’s broader initiative of planting and growing 100,000 trees at the area and its ambitious plan to grow 1.2 million trees by 2026.
Through the Linda Miti initiative, the bank has collaborated with schools on tree growing. It is also good that KCB has surpassed this year’s initial target by planting 281,864 trees against the set target of 256,000. This, the lender’s foundation director Mendi Njonjo says, ensures sustained care and nurturing of the trees planted.
“We actively support climate action aligned with Sustainable Development Goal 13 on Climate Action to increase forest cover and restore degraded landscape,” said Njonjo.
DTB Group chief executive and managing director Nasim Devji led the staff to a tree planting exercise at Ngong Road. She said the tree planting coincides with DTB’s sustainability blueprint, which has seen the bank play its role against climate change.
“Through our #Muchmorethantrees initiative, we plan to grow 10 million trees by 2030. We also have DTB staff here today, keen to play their part in growing trees and contributing to the alleviation of future droughts and protecting livelihoods,” Ms Devji said during the first national tree planting day.
Unga Group managing director Joseph Choge also joined the tree-growing initiative with hopes that the government will restore and expand forest cover in the country. Choge believes that “such climate action” will improve Kenya’s food production fortunes and “secure our food” in a big way.
“Our new 2023-2030 strategy has a comprehensive plan for implementing our sustainability agenda. We seek to reduce our environmental footprint, implement eco-friendly practices, and support initiatives such as this by the government that positively impact society. We urge our farmers to embrace tree farming to boost tree cover and promote sustainable agriculture,” Choge said.
NCBA Group managing director John Gachora said: “As stewards of both financial and environmental capital, we believe in the imperative to sow the seeds of sustainability. Furthermore, as we join the whole country in Planting trees today, we do so as our responsibility to foster a greener future for generations to come. Indeed, as NBCA Group, we have identified sustainability as one of our priorities and have set, among other 15 ambitious commitments, to grow 10 million trees through strategic partnerships with private actors and government by 2030.”
In Kiambu County, over 200 Safaricom staff planted 10,000 trees at Kinale Forest, led by Chief Finance Officer Dilip Pal and Chief Channels Officer Nicholas Kamunyu, Ag. Chief Corporate Affairs Officer Fred Waithaka and Director of Sustainable Business and Social Impact Karen Basiye.
“We have a partnership with the Kenya Forest Service to plant 5 million trees by 2025. Our partnership has an adopt-a-forest strategy that will see us reforest, protect, and conserve about 5,000 hectares to support the efforts to achieve 30% national forest cover,” said Safaricom CEO Peter Ndegwa.
