By Okong’o Oduya
Alupe University College (AUC) in collaboration with Equity wings to fly foundation and Eco-green have come together to plant more than 3000 tree seedlings on more than 200-acre piece of land. This land belongs to Alupe university college. The activity was aimed at increasing forest cover in Busia county, and conserve water catchments.
Busia County is among the counties in Kenya that has the least forest cover despite receiving enough rains.
According to the National Environmental Complaints Committee, deforestation and human activities have negatively impacted on environment in the county.
Professor Emmy Kipsoi an administrator in the department of finance and development at AUC, as an institution they joined efforts with other stakeholders in the county to plant the seedlings keep their institution green as they contribute towards forest cover in the county.
She noted that during this rainy season it is the best time calling upon people should utilize the rains to plant at least a tree to prevent future calamities that happen as a result of environmental challenges.
“Through our partners, we have planted 3000 different species of trees such as bamboo trees, Cyprus, gravelly among other species and now that there is rain it will grow and in a few months time it will be big trees.” She said
She further noted that the institution has got enough land to plant more trees, calling upon other stakeholders such as the department of forest and other entities to follow the suit. She said the institution will be planting trees every year to help cover the better part of the 200 acres of land that belong to the institution.
She called upon the community to embrace tree planting to help increase forest cover adding that it is a result of deforestation floods and extreme drought is being witnessed during rainy and drought season in various parts of the country.
“Weather pattern has really changed. There are floods now, and tomorrow we will be talking of drought. When it rains it floods, and when the sun comes it prolongs causing damage to the ecosystem. The weather pattern we used to, when young it is no longer here with us.
On the other hand equity bank, wings to fly foundation said one of their responsibilities as a foundation back to the society is to take care of nature. Oscar Masinde the manager, equity Bank Busia branch said as an entity they will continue working closely with the university to plant more trees.
Masinde said conservation is one of the pillars the equity bank has to the community besides agriculture and education.
He said they will involve all the students they sponsor on wings to fly program to know the importance of taking care of nature.
“I want to assure the university that we will continue working with the university in conservation programs and our desire is to see all the trees we have planted today grow to a big forest. We will also let these young ones know the relevance of sparing their time to plant trees for their generation and generations after them” said Masinde
Busia County has only one percent forest cover which is far below the United Nations recommended a target of land under forest cover for countries which supposed to be 10 percent.
Environmentalists fear that the county is in danger of becoming a desert if the issue of deforestation is not keenly addressed which will affect the future generation.
They are calling upon the County Government of Busia to set days for massive tree planting activities across the County that will help in improving forest cover.
Jackline Amadi the manager Eco-green, an environmental body in Busia County, says there is no need to plant more trees if the county government and the public, in general, were not keenly on conserving the little trees that are there.
She says there is no political goodwill from leaders in the county to look after the nature adding that the few trees that are there are not protected due to lack of policies to protect the planted trees.
She further called upon the community to desist from planting bluegum trees species along the rivers, streams, and wetlands saying that species don’t restore and rehabilitate the wetlands at all, and instead, it drains water and damage soil structure leaving the land barren and unproductive.
However, County Assembly of Busia wants the Department of Water, Irrigation, Environment, and Natural Resources to formulate policies that will mandate landowners whose land exceeds one acre to set a pre-determined portion of their land for forest cover.
