Koguta Forest, Greener by 7,000 Tree seedlings
Over forty KenGen PLC Sondu Power Station staff Givers joined hands with the Kenya Forest Service and the local community to plant 1,000 indigenous tree seedlings at Koguta Forest, Nyakach Sub-county on 2nd September in Phase II of the afforestation exercise. Another 6,000 seedlings, courtesy of KenGen PLC, were committed to rehabilitating the degraded forest over the next few weeks.
Led by the Managing Trustee of the KenGen Foundation Anthony Igecha and KenGen Chief Environment Scientist Philip Barasa, the exercise, which saw the participants strictly adhere to the COVID-19 guidelines, is a follow up of an earlier tree planting activity held in November last year.
“The Foundation and partners are today committing themselves to ensuring the sustainable restoration of the forest for the benefit of the environment and the community”, he added.
The 446 hectares Koguta forest is one of two forests in Kisumu County that are devastated from encroachment and wanton deforestation due to illegal charcoal burning and livestock grazing.
The tree planting exercise, which was implemented with support from East Africa Breweries Limited and the Kenya Forest Service, is part of the national agenda aimed at achieving 10% forest cover by 2022.
Echoing the sentiments of his counter-part, Philip Barasa informed the community members that the rehabilitation of the forest provides multiple benefits and is also a win to the company as it prevents siltation, and improves power generation.
“As part of our mandate in environmental conservation, the company commits to producing to 50,000 tree seedlings annually for distribution to the community”, he added.
During the event, twenty members from the area Community Forest Association joined the participants in the exercise despite the sweltering mid-morning heat to plant various indigenous tree seedlings. “As a community, we’ve so far seen the benefits of conserving Koguta, and we thank KenGen and partners for todays event despite the challenges brought by the corona virus”, said their chairman, present during the event.
KenGen PLC, through the KenGen Foundation implements long-term sustainable projects with like-minded partners focused on environmental conservation and community empowerment.
Besides conserving the forest, KenGen PLC is committed to the conservation of the Mau catchment area as the company’s Sondu Miriu and Sangoro Power Stations rely on water from Mau Forest complexto generate electricity.Sondu Miriu Power Station generates approximately 60 Mw.
The KenGen “Givers” Initiative is a unique corporate endeavour in the country’s energy sector where KenGen PLC’s employees donate their time, skills and also financial contributions in amplifying the company’s sustainable CSI programme. The Givers have so far planted 20,000 trees at Koguta Forest.
Through sustained corporate social efforts, KenGen PLC has since also put up 6 boreholes serving five locations within the area, and also the construction of a water treatment plant, which was handed over to the county government.
The communities living adjacent to the Sondu Miriu power plant also benefited from the installation of hand pumps, and the provision of foodstuff and other crucial necessities.
“Today’s tree planting exercise reflects one of the Foundation’s key pillars of environmental conservation”, said Anthony.
The Managing Trustee Anthony Igecha thanked the Givers for showing up for the exercised and assured them of continued engagement in other projects.
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–Ernest Nyamasyo, Communication Officer
