Tobiko leads global environment ministers in marking UNEP’s 50 years

The Ministry of Environment and Forestry on Sunday hosted a tree planting exercise at Nairobi City Park where 193 indigenous tree seedlings representative of the UN member countries were planted to mark 50 years since the UN Environment Programme was established.
The event preceded the five-day United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA 5.2) which kicked off yesterday to March 4, 2022 at the UN Complex in Nairobi as environmental experts warn of intense frequent wildfires in the coming years. 
In a new report released last week in Nairobi a head of the UNEA, experts are projecting that Climate change and land-use change will lead to a global increase of extreme fires of up to 14 per cent by 2030, 30 per cent by the end of 2050 and 50 per cent by the end of the century.
“There’s need for a radical change in government spending on wildfires, shifting their investments from reaction and response to prevention and preparedness,” the report by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and GRID-Arendal urges.
The report: Spreading like Wildfire: The Rising Threat of Extraordinary Landscape Fires, finds an elevated risk even for the Arctic and other regions previously unaffected by wildfires. Kenya does not have a history of natural fires, but the report cautions that the country should be wary of the changing weather landscape.
“Once again, governments must adopt a new ‘Fire Ready Formula’, with two-thirds of spending devoted to planning, prevention, preparedness, and recovery, with one third left for response,” the report further calls.
To prevent fires, authors of the report call for a combination of data and science-based monitoring systems with indigenous knowledge and for a stronger regional and international cooperation.
“Current government responses to wildfires are often putting money in the wrong place. Those emergency service workers and firefighters on the frontlines who are risking their lives to fight forest wildfires need to be supported”, said Inger Andersen, UNEP Executive Director. 
She added; “We have to minimize the risk of extreme wildfires by being better prepared: invest more in fire risk reduction, work with local communities, and strengthen global commitment to fight climate change.”
At the Nairobi City Park on Sunday,  Environment Cabinet Secretary, Keriako Tobiko said that the exercise is practically in response to the report.
“In a way, today’s exercise, which also marks UNEP at 100 since the same area would later be the shade under which the future generation would inherit to celebrate the occasion 50 years from now,” said the CS who was joined by environment ministers from several countries among them Uganda, and Nigeria. 
The planted section was dubbed “UNEP at 50 Corner”.
The CS was accompanied by Environment Principal Secretary Dr Chris Kiptoo and the Chief Conservator of Forests (CCF) Julius Kamau.
The CCF noted the uniqueness of Nairobi City Park as the choice to grow trees commemorating UNEP at 50. 
“The park’s rich history to Kenya – which hosts up to 1,000 city residents who visit the green space, while 5,000 more enjoy the serenity of the park while traversing through it to and from work – cannot be overlooked,” he stated.
Its size is 90 hectare, and the first park in the country donated for public use by a Kikuyu clan (Mbaari ya Kihara) back in 1903. 
“In it, Kenyans remember the World War I & II war veterans whose remains lie at the Commonwealth War Memorial Cemetery among others also designated for Jewish,” Kamau added.
The remains of Kenya’s 2nd Vice President and wife the late Joseph Murumbi also lie at the Murumbi Peace Memorial Gardens among other history makers including the late Pio Gamma Pinto.
KFS manages the Park which has a canopy of over 98 different tree species, and home to over 100 bird species, reptiles and amphibians.
The week-long conference marks UNEP at 50 under the theme ” Strengthening UNEP for the implementation of the environmental dimension of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development” and UNEA 5.2 under the theme “Strengthening Actions for Nature to Achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.”
Key findings and suggestions by the authors of the report will dominate various sessions of the UNEA 5.2 in the next few days.
The report was commissioned in support of the United Nations Programme on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (UNREDD) and the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration. UNEP will be exploring how further investments can be made to reduce fire risks in critical ecosystems around the world.

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