The University of Nairobi (UoN) and Acorn Holdings Limited, the entity behind Qwetu and Qejani Student Residences, have partnered to plant one hundred thousand trees to mitigate the effects of climate change and increase Kenya’s green cover through afforestation.Through the partnership, to be undertaken over the next five years, the two organizations envision to augment ongoing governments’ afforestation efforts which target to plant five billion trees by 2027 under the Special Presidential Forestry and Rangeland Restoration Program.
The exercise was held at the University of Nairobi’s VET Farm located at the College of Agriculture and Veterinary Services in Kabete.
The afforestation partnership was announced jointly by Prof. Stephen Kiama, Vice Chancellor, University of Nairobi and Edward Kirathe, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Acorn during a joint tree planting exercise where 5,000 trees were planted.
Speaking during the event, Prof. Kiama noted that the current drought situation is a confirmation to everyone that more needs to be done to conserve our environment and to support the government’s effort in increasing Kenya’s tree cover by planting five billion trees in the next five years.“To support the Kenyan government’s effort in this ambitious plan, the President in asked the citizens to back his government’s effort by each planting 300 plants. As a university, planting trees will not only be contributing towards mitigating the impacts of climate change but can also earn income from carbon credits through climate change financing. The University can and should plant trees and apply for carbon credits.”
The university has been selected to host the Global Climate Accelerator program by the Global Centre on Adaptation in recognition of the talent concentration at UoN. In addition, the university will host Bill Gates tomorrow, 17th November, to talk about climate change, innovation, and technology.On his part, Kirathe, lauded the University’s leadership for the partnership and noted that Acorn is committed towards driving their environmental sustainability agenda through partnerships with organizations like UoN.