CELEBRITIES JOIN ENVIRONMENT MINISTRY IN CONSERVATION EFFORTS

CS Keriako Tobiko with celebrities Daddy Owen (Musician )and Miss Earth Jacquilynn Kirui and Susan Kirui when they paid a courtesy call on him.

Conservation has received a boost through the decision of artists and celebrities to partner with the Environment Ministry to green the country and save the disappearing forests.

Environment and Forestry Cabinet Secretary Mr. Keriako Tobiko hosted musician Owen Mwatia alias Daddy Owen, Miss Earth Kenya Jacquelynn Kirui, Susan Kirui and Lily Tanui of Green Future Movement who have initiated a “Cool Club” to mobilize millions of youth to restore its lost glory of conservation.

Daddy Owen the renowned Kenyan  gospel music singer  told CS Tobiko that he would focus  through his performances a new initiative dubbed “MITI 365” to popularize tree planting among the youth in an effort to restore the greening culture. The initiative targets to marshal about 60 % of Kenyans who are the youth.

Kenya has lost its culture of planting trees and “we have to do it differently” to achieve the universally accepted tree cover of 10%, the celebrity told the CS, adding that it was a pity that the country had fallen way below the accepted standards through illegal logging and wanton destruction  of forests.

The musician through his popular “Kapungala”, a Lingala style of music will visit primary and secondary schools to train the youth on tree planting, staging music concerts and providing designer school bags to popularize greening of the country’s landscape.

For a start, the celebrities will join the CS in an event dubbed “saving Kakamega forest”, the only remaining tropical forest in Kenya through planting of tree seedlings in the degraded ecosystem during the current long rains. It is the home of numerous endemic species threatened with extinction.

During the meeting the chief Conservator of Forests M/S Monica Kalenda, emphasized the need to conserve the degraded Kakamega rain forest among other forests for posterity. She confirmed that the Kenya Forest Service produced only 170 million tree seedlings annually against a projected 360 million seedlings to achieve the country’s 10 % tree cover by 2022.

Mr. Tobiko expressed confidence with the newly found cooperation of like minded Kenyans to provide synergy in conserving the environment

He called on Kenyans to look beyond tree planting and develop a culture of tree nurturing and growing that would be the county’s biggest asset in mitigating climate change.