Kenya Army troops in various areas of deployment have scaled up environment conservation efforts by joining hands with their immediate communities and various stakeholders to plant trees. The troops are taking advantage of the ongoing rains to plant trees in various areas, in order to help mitigate the devastating effects of climate change. Further, the efforts are in line with the Commander-in-Chief’s efforts of tree restoration campaign dubbed National Programme for Accelerated Forestry and Rangelands Restoration.
On May 19, 2023 troops from the 3rd Battalion, the Kenya Rifles in collaboration with the Green Belt Movement of Kenya and the local community at Dundori in Nakuru County planted over 15,000 tree seedlings with an aim to restore the depleted ecosystem in Dundori Forest, which serves as a crucial water catchment area for the rivers in Nakuru. The tree planting exercise is ongoing for the next 10 days and it targets to plant over 168,000 indigenous tree seedlings.
In Thika, soldiers from the 12 Engineers Battalion led by their Commanding Officer Lieutenant Colonel Andrew Kapkomoi joined hands with representatives from Equity Bank to plant over 6,000 tree seedlings within the military cantonment, Munyu Girls and Mbagathi Secondary Schools.
In the tree planting exercises, the troops planted indigenous and fruit trees which include Casuarina, White bottle brush, Cyprus, Ekebergia capensis, Gravellia, Mango, Avocado and Java Plum.
The tree planting exercises symbolises the collaborative approach the Kenya Army troops are having towards environmental conservation as enshrined in the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) Environmental Soldier Programme. Further these efforts demonstrate the KDF’s commitment to protecting and preserving natural resources for the total national defence of the Republic of Kenya.
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