Trees vital in war against climate change

Pupils from Roots Academy in Nakuru County plant a tree on June 1, 2017. To ensure that tree planting becomes part of the Kenyan culture we need to target school-going children. PHOTO | MWORIA MUCHINA | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • The lack of proper sensitisation on the importance of tree planting is equally to blame.
  • The 2030 global agenda for sustainable development draws a direct link between environmental degradation and climate change.
  • Adverse weather, especially erratic rainfall patterns, have become more common in Africa.

Desertification poses an immediate threat to Kenya, considering that 80 per cent of the country is classified as arid and semi-arid land.

This is the process by which fertile land becomes desert, typically as a result of inappropriate agriculture, drought or deforestation.

On June 17, Kenya joined the rest of the world in marking the World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought, which is aimed at promoting public awareness about desertification.

TREE PLANTING

Tree planting has been touted as one of the most effective ways of fighting desertification.

However, it is lamentable that, for many people, tree planting has been reduced to a photo opportunity, a mere PR exercise.

We have lost an appreciation of the critical importance of tree planting, explaining the rapid deforestation.

According to the ‘State of East Africa 2012’ report, Kenya’s forest cover in 2010 was 32 million hectares, down from 39 million hectares in 1990.

CONSERVATION

The catastrophic loss in forest cover is partly due to charcoal burning and illegal logging.

The lack of proper sensitisation on the importance of tree planting is equally to blame.

Tree planting not only offsets the losses incurred by legal and illegal logging, but also creates a culture where people are more appreciative of the value of conservation.

This is critical in combating desertification.

CLIMATE CHANGE

To ensure that tree planting becomes part of the Kenyan culture we need to target school-going children, who are still impressionable.

At Wrigley East Africa, we are working closely with organisations that promote tree planting in schools.

One is the Kenya Organisation for Environmental Education.

They organised for 15 schools (primary and secondary) to converge on Cheleta Primary School in Runda, Nairobi, this year to plant more than 1,000 trees.

Another critical measure is creating awareness about climate change.

WATER BODIES

The 2030 global agenda for sustainable development draws a direct link between environmental degradation and climate change, which has led to more erratic weather in recent years.

The cruel irony is that Africa is the continent that contributes least to climate change but suffers most from its effects.

Adverse weather, especially erratic rainfall patterns, have become more common in Africa.

Scientific studies by the United Nations in West Africa indicate that Lake Chad, which spans Chad, Niger and Nigeria, shrank by 95 per cent between 1963 and 2001.

DROUGHT

Also, 82 per cent of the ice that once covered Mt Kilimanjaro in Tanzania has vanished since it was first surveyed in 1912.

Kenya has also been affected, and the recent drought is a clear testament.

The drought affected over one million people in 13 counties. It not only affected food security, but also the broader economy by pushing food prices up, fuelling inflation.

If we do not fight climate change with the resoluteness it demands, things will only get worse. Droughts will be more persistent.

COMMUNAL EFFORT

We need collective action to deal climate change a decisive blow.

Climate change affects all of us, and, therefore, demands our united efforts.

Tree planting is a good place to begin because it sends a strong message that we can all be part of the solution.

Everybody can participate, especially schoolchildren.

SUSTAINABILITY

This will help bring up a generation that is acutely aware of the importance of conservation in sustainable development.

Through tree planting we will not only take good care of our common home, the earth, but also confront the widespread environmental degradation that poses an ever greater threat to the future of humanity.

Ms Mwangi is the corporate affairs manager of Wrigley East Africa. [email protected]