Fifty percent of the trees planted in Kenya do not grow to full capacity.
This is according to David Karani, a Social Justice Movement Advocate.
Speaking during the African Environmental Day celebrations also known as as Wangari Maathai day, Karani has noted that a lot needs to be done to ensure a greater percentage of the trees that are planted in Kenya grow to full capacity, forests are protected and community is not encroached.
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Karani has however cited some of the challenges including lack of enough resources to sustain the campaigns against cutting down trees and lack of proper care for the already planted trees.
In addition, Karani has indicated that most cases related to community land encroachment drag in courts thereby paralysing the efforts of such movements of ensuring that community lands are not encroached.
He has highlighted the importance of speeding up such cases and cutting down the case loads involving community lands grabbing in courts.
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The celebrations which brought together various stakeholders acted as a benchmark of the Late Wangari Maathai efforts, that has seen critical issues being raised including the need for the government to amplify its efforts to protect forests, the need for the government to involve experts in creating awareness to the public on the importance of protecting trees as well as the need for the government to put up proper structures that will ensure the already planted trees are protected.
This is according to Sherryl Gakii, a communications manager at Greenpeace Movement has shown concern over the position of Kenya in sub-saharan Africa indicating that Kenya only has 6.3% of forest cover coming fifth last in Africa.
Further Gakii has indicated that even though President Ruto launched a campaign of planting 15 billion trees by 2032, that number is still low compared to countries like Uganda which has a 15% forest cover and Tanzania which has a 50% forest cover.
Kenya planted 750million trees in 2024 which Gakii has said that a lot must be done to hit the 15 billion trees target.
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In additions Elijah Muindi, an environmentalist who also works for Wheels For Climate has also cited the need to embrace proper methods of transporting tree seedlings indicating that as part of the organisation, the community has been trained on the need to properly transport tree seedlings in order to ensure these seedlings once planted do not die.
Further Rose Mueni is also a human rights defender and who was present during the celebrations has cried foul over the numerous corruption cases that happen, where she has pointed out that funds allocated for tree planting often a times end up in the pockets of a few stakeholder, which she says is slowly killing the culture of planting, cultivating and taking care of trees and has called on the government to follow with such cases of corruption to ensure these funds are used as purposed.