The beautiful but sparsely populated terrains of West Pokot and Turkana counties are dotted with shrubs and scraggly bushes, creating an illusion of emptiness, broken occasionally by lone herdsmen with goats and camels searching for pasture and water.
The area is best described as semi-arid.
With very few options, charcoal burning is one of the main economic activities as evidenced by the huge roadside sacks of charcoal, and the near absence of tree cover.
Aware of the problem, KenGen PLC and the KenGen Foundation partnered with Tullow Oil in 2017 for an ambitious 2-year afforestation pilot project aimed at contributing towards mitigating the effects of tree cover loss, and other environmental degradation related problems such as soil erosion.
Borrowing from the success of the Schools Green Initiative Challenge, a school based tree planting competition, 28 schools from the two counties signed up to grow trees in their compounds under Kenya’s Vision 2030 Green Initiative – The National Green Schools Program.
The last two weeks have been busy, with KenGen staff and the project’s Monitoring and Evaluation officers distributing over 7,000 tree seedlings to the participating schools.
The schools received drought resistant Terminalia brownie, Senna siamea and Azandiracta Indica tree species for their 0.5 acre plots as part of revitalizing the project, while at the same time embracing the new curriculum.
The Turwel GIC is an afforestation programme that targets schools in arid and semi-arid areas to raise environmental awareness and create an involvement of schools and students in improving their environment through a participatory and rewarding initiative.
Implemented by Kengen Foundation, KenGen PLC and Tullow Oil Ltd., the project involves over 500 students and ‘green’ teachers and school principals in planting selected tree species within their school compounds. The project partners provide seedlings and technical advice. The programme also includes 2 capacity building sessions per year for all participating schools and continuous Monitoring and Evaluation sessions.
The tree growing project aims at raising the awareness and participation of school children in environmental conservation via sustainable management of woodlots. It is designed as a challenge to participating institutions, mainly due to the dry weather conditions in the areas.
The ultimate goal of the project is to raise the awareness and participation of school children in environmental conservation and ultimately increase the country’s forest cover from the current 7% to 10% that is recommended by United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP).
Despite the climate challenges facing Turkana County, including insecurity, lack of teachers, and low student turn out, the GIC is generally accepted as a noble project that will sustainably change the landscape of the area.
The GIC project, which involves participating schools competing in nurturing drought resistant tree seedlings, has also set its sights to Kisumu and Nakuru counties as part of its expansion plan.
Indeed, greening Turkana County will definitely be worth the combined efforts of KenGen and Tullow Oil.
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–Ernest Nyamasyo, Communication Officer