Delayed rains slam breaks on massive afforestation program

Nyeri,

Tuesday October 24, 2023

KNA by Samuel Maina

A delay in the onset of the October-November -December short rains is impeding afforestation plans in Nyeri County, local Kenya Forest Service (KFS)Ecosystem Conservator Moses Wahome has said.

Wahome has said initial plans to conduct an aggressive tree planting campaign across the county are currently on hold due to a poor moisture buildup.

Nyeri recorded its only downpour for the season on Wednesday last week.

The official now says they will have to suspend any tree planting campaign until the county records substantial amounts of rain.

“The rains have failed. We were just awaiting moisture build up but lack of rain has hindered any further progress. Our projection is to plant trees everywhere and especially on farmlands in areas of Kieni which is an Arid and Semi-arid Land. But right now, we have to wait for the rains,” he says.

When pressed to disclose the number of tree seedlings KFS had projected to plant during this short rainy season, Wahome said the target is to plant every seedling currently in their nurseries.

He stated that KFS is targeting to replenish tree coverage in both gazetted forest reserves, public institutions and private farmlands in a massive project involving various stakeholders including churches, institutions of learning, members of the public and National Government Administration Officers (NGAO).

“We are planting everything that is in the nurseries. Let us not discuss targets but talk about planting when the rains come. We are a bit frustrated right now. We could be busy in the field. We are only praying for rains since it will also affect food security in the country,” he added.

The Kenya Meteorological Department had projected that the country would experience El Nino rains during the short rainy season which was to run all the way to January next year.

This prediction however appears to have been a rather long shot with much of the country yet to record even a single drop of the rains.

 A weather forecast report for the period running from October 24 to October 30 indicate that all the eight sub counties in Nyeri will experience morning and night showers over a few places.

 The rainy sessions will nevertheless be interrupted by sunny intervals with daily maximum temperatures expected to range between 20 degrees centigrade and 25 degrees centigrade.

Night temperatures will on the other hand oscillate between 11 degrees centigrade and 15 degrees centigrade.

On logging ban, Wahome clarified that the cessation still remains in force following a court order that overturned a state decision that had allowed harvesting of mature trees in commercial government forests.

“The status quo remains (on logging). The case in court is still in progress. But there is no outcry here since those who had taken advantage of the lifting of the logging ban had already collected their forest produce by the time the court order was coming into force,” he said.

In August Justice Oscar Angote granted stay orders stopping President Dr William Ruto’s executive order that had lifted a six-year freeze on logging in June.

The court similarly barred the state from issuing new permits to millers to harvest trees in government forests pending the hearing and determination of the suit.

The case had been filed by the Law Society of Kenya (LSK) after it raised substantive arguments in the manner the logging ban was lifted claiming the government had bypassed the public when arriving at the decision.

Nyeri County is targeting to increase its forest cover from the current 40.89 per cent to 43 per cent by the year 2027.

During celebrations to mark this year's International Day of Forests held at Kabaru Forest on March 21, Water Irrigation, Environment and Climate Change County Executive Committee Member (CECM), Fredrick Kinyua disclosed that his department was keen on supporting the government attain its target of planting 15 billion trees by 2032.

Kinyua similarly noted that with the increased forest cover, the county would be best placed to combat the erratic weather patterns being experienced in the country due to climate change.

“We cannot talk about tackling food security, water shortage or climate change without talking about protecting our forests. The solution to the problems we are currently facing can be resolved by taking care of our forests and planting more trees,” said the officer during the event.

“We are still implementing the 10 million trees challenge with the help of our schools which will help Kenya Forest Service and Community Forest Associations propagate seedlings.

So as to ensure that we do not just plant trees, we are encouraging the learners in those schools to each adopt a tree so that they can care for the trees until they reach maturity. Our goal is to hit the 45 per cent mark in the next five years,” added Kinyua.

According to the National Forest Resources Assessment Report the country’s forest cover stands at 8.83 per cent.

 Nyeri County has three times the nationally recommended 10 per cent forest cover and a tree cover of 45.17 per cent.

The State imposed a ban on logging on February 24 2018 which effectively restricted the extraction of timber from all public and community forests.

The moratorium was arrived at following the findings of a task force that had been constituted by the government to inquire into forest resource management and logging activities in the country.

The task force found out that the board and the management of KFS had been unable to stem and in some instances have directly participated in and abated logging due to systematised rampant corruption and abuse of office.

Forest plantations currently cover at least 335,000 acres in all gazetted reserves of Kenya including the Mount Kenya, Aberdare, Mau Forest Complex, Cherangani Hills and Mt Elgon.

Courtesy; KNA