Nairobi — The government has launched a reforestation initiative in Laikipia's Mukogodo forest even as security agencies prepare to move in to flush out bandits that have for years turned it into their hideout.
A total of 10,000 trees have been planted in the last two weeks in parts of the 74,000-acre indigenous forest now faced with degradation risks due to illegal occupation and wanton destruction of the tree cover by armed migrating herders.
Wildlife Principal Secretary Silvia Museiya terms Mukogodo, s one of the largest dry forests in Kenya as a key wildlife corridor that links the Mount Kenya ecosystem to the northern rangelands, including Samburu and which supports a rich diversity of wildlife, including buffaloes, leopards and over 200 bird species.
On Tuesday this week, Rift Valley Regional Commissioner Abdi Hassan made a tour of the area while in the company of senior security officers and ordered the people residing in the forest to vacate immediately ahead of the multiagency security operation being efforts to restore security in the restive neighbourhood and protect the forest from further destruction.
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The forest cover restoration campaign is spearheaded by the Department of Wildlife in the Tourism Ministry and has brought on board the local Community Forest Association (CFA), education institutions in the neighbourhood and Yiaku, a minority community that has for generations depended on this natural resource for their livelihood.
Other forests targeted in the reforestation campaign by the department as part of the initiative to grow at least 1.5bilion trees every year includes Lariak, Chepalungu, Oloitoktok and Nyandarua
