CORRECTIONAL SERVICES PS PLEDGES SUPPORT FOR MAU RESTORATION INITIATIVE

By Nicholas Kigondu

The government is set to launch an ambitious initiative that seeks to restore and sustainably manage the Mau Forest complex through integrated conservation.

Dubbed Mau Forest complex integrated conservation and livelihood improvement programme, the initiative which will be launched next month, will see four million tree seedlings planted on about 3,313 hactares of forest land in its first edition.

According to Environment, Climate Change & Forestry Cabinet Secretary Deborah Barasa, the programme which targets 128,600 farmers, is not just an environmental duty but an economic necessity.

“Restoring the Mau is not charity—it is economic insurance, protecting GDP growth, securing food systems, and guaranteeing national energy stability.” She observed.

She said the 15 billion tree growing target by 2032 as set out by President William Ruto is an economic shield, a social contract, and a moral obligation.

Speaking at the partners and media breakfast meeting, Eng. Festus Ng’eno, the Principal Secretary for the State Department for Environment and Climate Change and the patron of the programme, said the 10-year bold programme is meant to restore the Mau ecosystem through integration of conservation and livelihood improvement.

He said the plan, which has already witnessed the restoration of 33 hectares of forest land, will be realized through sustainable landscape management, community livelihood improvement, circular economy, environmental education and research as well as project governance and resource mobilization.

While pledging support for the programme through the whole of government approach, Correctional Services Principal Secretary Dr. Salome Beacco said her department has already donated 250,000 tree seedlings towards the cause pledging to donate a similar number of seedlings to the initiative.

This even as she sought support from partners in the acquisition of sufficient   potting bags to support the greening Kenya initiative with the department having a target of producing 100 million tree seedlings each year.   

She said the department is in the process of migrating from wood fuel to clean energy as part of efforts aimed at conserving the environment.