Kenyans urged to take part in the plant your age tree campaign

Environmentalists, political leaders and community members gathered in Kajiado County on Monday to plant hundreds of trees as part of an initiative seeking to have every Kenyan plant the number of trees equivalent to their age.

The initiative dubbed ‘plant your age’ is driven by conservation group, Green Africa Foundation and is supported by the Royal Media Services among other partners.

The event held at the Nkaimurunya area in Kajiado County brought together environmentalists and other leaders to plant at least 400 trees in this park availed by the County Government of Kajiado.

The event is marked on 14th of September every year.

This year’s event incorporated youth from the Kazi Mtaani Programme run by the national government.

Green Africa Foundation says plant your age was inspired by the work of the late Nobel Laureate Professor Wangari Maathai who was widely celebrated for her contribution to the conservation of the global environment.

The ‘Plant your Age’ campaign was launched by Retired President Mwai Kibaki when the foundation dedicated The Kibaki Green Corner (with 80 Trees to commemorate his 80 th birthday then) in Kitui during the historical National Tree Planting Day held in 2010.

“The Plant Your Age campaign seeks to enhance and unify tree growing across Kenya, Africa and globally. Although there are already numerous tree planting campaigns championed by different players and entities they are often time-bound and splintered, which makes it hard to track progress plus ensure both the survival and flourish of planted trees,” says Dr. Isaac Kalua, Chairman Green Africa Foundation.