Kenya is relying on a number of strategies to raise the country’s forest cover after it emerged that only 750 million trees may have been planted since President William Ruto announced an ambitious plan to plant 15 billion trees by 2032.

Adopt-A-Forest Initiative, unveiled in 2015, looks to be the answer the government could look to as its benefits are indicated to be immense.

During his swearing, in 2022, Ruto unveiled the National Landscape and Ecosystem Restoration Programme, which he declared one of the priorities of his Bottom Up Economic Transformation Agenda (BETA).

However, this required ambitious efforts to achieve the 2032 target, translating to the country planting over one billion trees per year which, from the statistics he revealed on Monday this week, may not be achieved.

The campaign targets planting 15 billion trees by 2032 to combat climate change with every Kenyan expected to plant 30 trees a year.

“Kenya remains committed to collaborating with like-minded nations to push the climate agenda forward,” Ruto noted, while insisting that in 2024, government efforts led to the planting and growing of 750 million trees.

Adopting trees

Adopt-A- Forest Initiative is an innovative concept that enhances the planting and growing of trees across the country.

This process involves partners adopting a portion of a forest for rehabilitation, protection and management for a period ranging from 3 to 5 years.

“To date, KFS has entered into a framework of collaboration with over 100 partners, both state and non-state actors,” the Forest Status Report 2024 by the Kenya Forest Service (KFS) details, and reveals that this has led to a total of 54, 698.68 hectares of forest areas being adopted for restoration.

Environment Cabinet Secretary, Aden Duale, while unveiling the report on Tuesday, announced that Kenyans planted 481 million trees from January 2024 to October 2024.

This now means that in just two months, going with the president yet-unsubstantiated announcement, Kenyans planted 269 million trees.