The Government has launched an ambitious climate action programme aimed at growing more than a million trees every month countrywide.
The initiative to be spearheaded by all the 3,950 chiefs at locational level is part of the country’s effort to grow 15 billion trees by 2032 in line with President Ruto’s directive.
Internal Security and National Administration Principal Secretary Dr Raymond Omollo presided over the national launch of the initiative at the grassroots dubbed Chief’s Climate Action Day at Nderi Primary School in Kikuyu Sub-County yesterday.
Speaking at the event, Omollo decried the adverse effects of climate change, including prolonged droughts and recurring floods in various parts of the country.
Omollo said climate change posed serious threats to national security and undermined peace initiatives, and called for concerted efforts to reverse the trend.
“Indeed, we recognize that peace, security, and climate change are closely linked. In Kenya, we face numerous climate-related risks to peace and security,” he noted.
He said prolonged droughts had caused conflicts among communities due to intensified competition for scarce resources such as water, pasture, and food.
The arid and semi-arid regions like the North Rift, North Eastern and Upper Eastern had witnessed conflicts as a result of harsh climatic conditions.
He said climate-induced migration had caused social tensions, citing Nairobi, where recurrent flooding along the Nairobi River had forced people from their homes.
Such movements placed pressure on resources and increased the potential for unrest, he noted.
Omollo said the Chiefs-led initiative was part of the Government’s response to the pressing need for tailored early warning systems and information networks to address the country’s unique climate-security challenges.
In the new scheme, the Interior ministry will support each Chief to mobilise their communities and coordinate the planting of at least 250 tree seedlings on the first Friday of every month.
“This initiative activates the invaluable leadership of our chiefs across the nation, who will mobilize and coordinate at the grassroots level to ensure the success of climate interventions within their communities,” said the PS.
Omollo said all chiefs will monitor and report progress, using standardized tools to ensure trees were well-cared for.
The administrators, he said, would be recognised as climate champions in the effort “demonstrating how localised action drives real impact”.
He said the launch marked a shift in how the Government engaged Chiefs in National programmes focusing on innovative methods that prioritised results and tangible outcomes.
He said Chiefs were best placed to support the Government’s Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda which places the most basic units of society at the center of all State interventions.
“Chiefs are at the heart of our strategy as National Government Administrative Officers, coordinating resources and efforts at the most local level,” he said.
Omollo exuded confidence that the administrators would succeed in the climate endeavor, as they were closely connected to the communities they serve.
He said the Government had made huge progress in tree growing, citing 34 million planted under coordination of the Chiefs in last year’s National Tree Growing Day.
He said his State Department has since grown the number to 99 million trees almost hitting the yearly target issued by the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change.
He urged Kenyans to support the Chiefs in the in the initiative.
Present at the function included Chief Conservator of Forests Alex Lemarkoko and Senior National and County officials.
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