Three years after President William Ruto issued a directive on Kenya’s national tree planting and restoration campaign to plant 15 billion trees across the country by 2032, questions are emerging as 61,271 hectares of mangrove coverage along the coastal region is decreasing gradually.
The matter has ignited jitters among nature conservatives at the Kenyan coast.
Speaking at Mteza bridge, Kwale County where Kemsfed injected Ksh2.9 million alongside a community contribution of Ksh300, 000 for mangrove restoration, stakeholders from cardinal youth association are now calling on government funded institutions to avail mangrove seedlings.
Furthermore, Kenyans have been urged to plant environment friendly trees so as to achieve the targeted forest cover.
“We want to achieve the forest cover that we target because, so many times we plant trees that are not adapted to the area we are planting trees. Specifically in this area, there are mangrove trees that adapt to it.
“This is in line with the Government’s agenda of planting 15 billion trees, and we have partnered with various organizations to ensure success of the initiative,” said one of the Cardinal youth.
A similar tree planting initiative was revived on August 8, 2025, during the NSSF celebration to celebrate 60 years of service as the government agency launched a massive plan to plant 2 million trees across the country.
The initiative – dubbed ‘The Green Campaign’ – is part of the government’s broader plan to plant 15 billion trees by the year 2032 as a response to climate change.
“As part of our 60 years celebrations, we’re partnering with the Ministry of Labour & Social Protection to plant 2 million trees nationwide in this Financial year,” NSSF Board Chairperson David Njeru said during the launch of the initiative on August 8, 2025 during a tree planting and golf tournament at Migaa Golf Estate, Nairobi.
On June 27, 2024 Cape Media Limited Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Mwenda Njoka expressed interest in partnering with the Kenya Forest Service (KFS) to support the tree planting campaign in the country.
Cape Media Limited, is the company that owns the fastest-growing media brands in Kenya (TV47 and Radio47).
Njoka made the remarks when he paid a courtesy call to the Chief Conservator of Forests (CCF) Alex Lemarkoko, at the Kenya Forest Service headquarters in Nairobi.
During the meeting, the two discussed areas of mutual collaboration especially in the area of informing the public about the 15 billion tree growing campaign that seeks to increase the country’s tree cover to at least 30% by the year 2032.
