Mitigating the effects of climate change
Climate change or global warming effects are the current world leaders’ headache. Every leader of a nation is feeling the effects of interference with Mother Nature, the trees that serve as the lungs of the universe and as infrastructure that have taken billions to build are destroyed and lives and livelihoods are not spared either. Industrialisation and population explosion are the major causes of global warming. But man’s misbehaviour with nature is squarely to blame. Men only believe in seeing. In fact, every man is biblical doubting Thomas. After felling trees and diminishing wetlands, everyone now is crying for the trees to help them mitigate the effects of climate change. They wish the young trees matured sooner and every country was on a tree-planting spree. Kenya has even had a public holiday for tree planting. This effort is commendable. However, we need to do more to achieve 10 per cent forest cover by 2030. Free spaces in schools for planting trees is less insignificant than idle land with no trees. Forest areas that are not fully covered and riparian areas that are being reduced to human habitation cover large areas that, if utilised, will pose a greater positive effect on the environment than schools. The government’s approach should focus on having all chunks of idle private and public land forested. The same should go to densifying the existing forest and stopping the shamba practice in forest areas. All riparian land should be jealously protected and the 100m buffer along rivers and around springs should be planted with indigenous trees. Real estate developers and urban planners should think seriously about gated community settlements that are more of a high-density settlement rather than a low-density settlements that has room for planting of trees. A good example is the high-end estates in Athi River and Kitengela. No trees are visible from the area. A stretch of about 10 acres of trees between estates could have made a big difference in meeting the tree cover nationally. The government needs to work on an afforestation policy that looks at empty idle land (both private and public) and guides the development of housing, with trees being part of the plan, then Kenya will achieve a 10 per cent tree cover area in the shortest time possible.