H.E. Deputy Governor Christine Kilalo has applauded the county’s draft Forestry Bill and Policy, stating that once passed, the documents are set to streamline biodiversity conservation, forest conservation and management, and protect water sources and law enforcement, as well as increase Own Source Revenue (OSR).
“Further, with the documents anchored towards attracting financing, I call for the fast tracking towards passing these instruments to ensure the forestry sector is adequately and promptly funded,” the Deputy County Boss added during the County Executive Committee Member (CECM) engagement.
Grantone Mwandawiro, CECM for Water, Sanitation, Environment, Climate Change, and Natural Resources, reiterated how the passing of the legislations would boost tree and forest cover.
“We expect this to guide to expand our forest cover from 3.41 percent to 10 percent and tree cover from 6.8 percent to 30 percent by 2032. The blueprint remains a solid support towards the national 15 billion tree-growing strategy,“ the CECM added.
Nathan Gichohi, Senior Ecologist at the African Wildlife Foundation (AWF), expressed that in the spirit of boosting grassroots-level participation in forest conservation and protection, his organisation is spearheading a process of registering a county Community Forest Association (CFA).
The CECMs who approved the bill and policy noted crosscutting multisectoral elements of the legislation that link gaps to solutions in addressing matters of devolution, job creation, ecotourism, human-wildlife conflicts, roadside tree-growing, and the protection of the environment.
The collaborative initiative is by World Agroforestry Centre ICRAF, African Wildlife Foundation AWF, and FAO-Kenya, where they are co-implementing a UK PACT-funded project on delivering nature-based solutions outcomes through strengthened policy implementation, institutional capacity, and enhanced monitoring and reporting of forest and landscape restoration in Kenya.
