Mazingira Day: Inside Kenya’s 15 billion tree plan to restore 10.6 million hectares

Kenya marked National Mazingira Day on October 10 with a nationwide tree-growing campaign, culminating in Trans Nzoia County.

The government targeted 17.24 million trees during Mazingira Week, which ran from October 5 to 10, as part of its wider 15 Billion Tree Growing Initiative.

Environment Cabinet Secretary Deborah Barasa said the country had planted approximately 2.2 billion trees towards the national target.

The figure is a government-reported progress measure; the longer-term test is whether the seedlings survive and contribute to lasting restoration.

The programme, launched in 2022, aims to increase national tree cover from a baseline of 12.13 per cent to 30 per cent by 2032.

It also targets the restoration of 10.6 million hectares of degraded landscapes and ecosystems.

The programme covers forests, water catchments, rangelands, wetlands, farms and urban areas, not just conventional tree plantations.

15 billion trees

Tree cover helps regulate local temperatures, protect soils, reduce erosion and support water systems.

Forests and other wooded landscapes also store carbon and provide habitats for wildlife, while trees on farms can improve soil conditions and provide farmers with fruit, timber and other products.

Kenya's restoration strategy places particular emphasis on degraded drylands and arid and semi-arid areas.

These regions face water scarcity, land degradation and pressure on natural resources, making appropriate restoration important for both environmental protection and livelihoods.

The government has therefore framed the programme around several interventions, including forest rehabilitation, agroforestry, restoration of riparian zones and mangroves, commercial tree growing and sustainable land management.

Planting trees in a dryland, however, requires a different approach from restoring a highland forest.

Species must suit local rainfall, soils and ecological conditions.

In some landscapes, protecting natural regeneration or restoring grassland and wetland systems may be more appropriate than planting dense rows of trees.

The survival question

A planted seedling does not automatically become a mature tree.

Drought, grazing, fire, poor planting methods and unsuitable species can all reduce survival.

Kenya Forestry Research Institute has been developing tools to help growers select species suited to different ecological zones, with the aim of improving survival rates.

This is where monitoring becomes crucial.

Counting seedlings distributed or planted measures activity; checking survival, growth and changes in tree cover measures lasting progress.

The government's JazaMiti digital platform is intended to record and track tree-growing activities, including locations and participation.

Such records can help identify where planting is taking place, but reliable long-term assessments also need to establish how many trees survive and whether degraded ecosystems are recovering.

Tree cover is not the same as forest cover

The two measurements are related but different.

Tree cover measures the area covered by tree canopies across the landscape, including trees outside formally recognised forests.

Forest cover refers to land classified as forest under the applicable assessment criteria.

Kenya's National Forest Resource Assessment placed tree cover at 12.13 per cent and forest cover at 8.83 per cent.

The figures describe different aspects of the country's vegetation and should not be treated as interchangeable.

That distinction will matter when officials assess whether the 2032 target has been achieved.

Planting billions of seedlings is not, by itself, proof that national tree cover has reached 30 per cent.

The environmental test

The programme's success depends on more than national planting days.

It requires suitable seedlings, reliable water, protection from fires and grazing, community participation and sustained care after planting.

It also requires protecting existing forests.

Mature trees and established forest ecosystems provide environmental functions that newly planted seedlings cannot immediately replace.

Mazingira Day gives Kenya an opportunity to mobilise people around environmental restoration.

The more demanding task is maintaining that effort in the months and years between national celebrations.

By 2032, the important measure will not simply be how many seedlings Kenya has planted.

It will be how much tree cover has survived, how much degraded land has recovered and whether the country's water catchments and other ecosystems are in better condition.