Homa Bay Woman Representative Joyce Osogo has embarked on a tree planting project in schools across the county in an effort to combat climate change.

The project on which she is collaborating with the Kenya Forest Service involves planting at least 100 trees in each school across the county.

The schools include 1116 primary schools and 354 secondary schools.

The legislator said, for a start, each primary school will receive 100 tree seedlings, while each secondary school gets 200.

She made the remarks yesterday when she launched the project at Kabunde Chief’s camp in Homa Bay town, Sub County.

The Member of Parliament was accompanied by the Nyanza Assistant Regional Forest Conservator, Safari Opiyo.

She said the project is aimed at fighting the adverse impact of climate change, adding that climate change has interfered with rain patterns in the county, affecting farming activities.

‘Today, farmers can no longer get reliable rainfall due to the adverse impact of climate change, which resulted from degradation of the environment. We are launching this tree planting initiative to conserve the environment,’ Dr Osogo said.

She said modalities had been put in place to protect the trees, including watering them during dry seasons and weeding them properly.

Dr Osogo said they were not only planting the trees but nurturing them to enhance their growth.

‘We have agreed with the management of the schools to ensure proper maintenance practices are carried out so that the trees grow well,’ she said.

Opiyo said the project will help improve forest cover in Homa Bay County.

‘Homa Bay forest cover is only 3.18 per cent against the recommended 10 per cent. This project will greatly contribute to the efforts to achieve the required forest cover,’ Opiyo said.

He told residents to embrace the culture of planting trees.

‘Trees are very important for their economic value as well as the conservation of our environment,’ Opiyo said.

Source: Kenya News Agency