Students plant 9,000 trees in two days



The Environment Club of the University of Embu mobilised students and the community to plant more than 9,000 trees at the weekend.
The students to planted 4,000 trees at university land on Friday. On Saturday, some 500 students joined hands with forestry officials, staff and community members and planted another 5,000 trees at the nearby Njukiri forest.
This was the largest number of trees the institution has planted in a single rainy season after having been planting about 3,000 trees in previous seasons, according to the Dean School of Agriculture Fredrick Njoka.
Dr Njoka who represented the Vice Chancellor Daniel Mugendi during the exercise on Saturday said by planting trees they hoped to mitigate against climate change as well as provide timber and conserve soil.
“The effects of climate change are here with us. Rains have become erratic coming at unexpected times or insufficient quantities. Forest animals have consequently shifted from their habitats. Monkeys have relocated from Njukiri forest and camped at the university,” he said.
He added by conserving the environment they hope to lure the monkeys and other wildlife back to their habitats.
Njukiri community forest association chairman Jeremiah Kinyua said they planted trees for timber through Plantations Establishments and Livelihood Plans in parts of forest where farmers are allowed to grow food crops and tender the trees.
He said they planted indigenous trees near rivers and water sources.
The two officials lauded efforts by the Environment Cabinet Secretary Keriako Tobiko to plant more trees and achieve 10 percent forest cover by 2022.
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