President Ruto leads Mazingira Day celebrations in Trans Nzoia amid deforestation concerns

• The celebrations come amid growing public concern over the felling of mature trees in some of Kenya’s forests, with environmentalists questioning the government’s commitment to forest conservation even as it promotes nationwide tree-planting campaigns.

A file photo of President William Ruto in a tree planting exercise.

President William Ruto is leading this year’s national Mazingira Day celebrations at Elgon Downs in Endebess, Trans Nzoia County, as the government steps up efforts to meet its target of growing 15 billion trees by 2032.

The celebrations come amid growing public concern over the felling of mature trees in some of Kenya’s forests, with environmentalists questioning the government’s commitment to forest conservation even as it promotes nationwide tree-planting campaigns.

This year’s Mazingira Week, which began on October 5, is targeting the planting of 17.24 million trees through activities involving communities, government institutions, schools and other sectors. The government has also planned a Green Challenge to mobilise 200,000 Kenyans to plant six million trees within one hour on Saturday.

The campaign is part of the government’s wider 15 Billion Tree Growing Programme, which seeks to increase Kenya’s tree cover to 30 per cent by 2032. Environment officials say 2.2 billion trees have so far been planted towards the national target.

Mazingira Day is observed annually on October 10 following the renaming of Utamaduni Day in 2024. The public holiday was designated to encourage Kenyans to participate in environmental conservation, including tree planting and forest restoration.

This year’s celebrations are being held under the theme, “Our Environment, Our Responsibility: Collective Action for Tree Growing and Environmental Stewardship.”

However, the national campaign comes against the backdrop of public outrage over videos circulating online showing lorries transporting timber from forests, including Kereita, Karura and the Aberdare ranges. Conservationists have questioned whether the harvesting of mature trees and development projects affecting forest areas undermine the government’s restoration commitments.

The Kenya Forest Service (KFS) has responded by outlining the regulatory framework and safeguards governing tree harvesting in public plantation forests, seeking to clarify the rules around commercial forestry.

The debate has renewed scrutiny of the balance between commercial timber production and protecting indigenous forests, biodiversity and critical water catchment areas.