The government has intensified conservation efforts in Mukogodo Forest, one of the indigenous forests that is under protection of the local community in Laikipia County.
The conservation initiative, done in collaboration with various government ministries and agencies, targets planting more than 100,000 trees in the expansive forest.
Mukogodo Forest, which stretches for an estimated 17,000 acres is home to Yiaku, a minority hunters and gatherers community that has occupied it for decades, conserving it using a traditional governance system while deriving the benefits including collecting honey and medicinal plants and conducting traditional rituals.
Director of Administration, State Department of Wildlife, Vincent Ongere, who represented the Principal Secretary for Wildlife, Silvia Museiya, during a tree-planting exercise in Mukogodo, said that the initiative was geared towards planting 15 billion trees by 2032 in the country. "This is a presidential directive that we should achieve a target of 15 billion trees by 2032; at the same time, we have a direct interest in tree planting since this is a wild animal habitat," said the director.
