Equity Group has announced plans to launch an ambitious project to plant 35 million trees across the country within a year. The announcement was made on the Bank’s 35th Anniversary and comes on the backdrop of a rebranding.
Equity Group has partnered with Kenya Forest Service (KFS) in this initiative. KFS will provide technical support that includes the Identification of hotspots that require urgent tree cover and/or rehabilitation of degraded forests, mapping out agro-ecological zones and identification of suitable tree species for planting; identification of high-quality tree seedlings stocks across the country; and support by KFS officers and staff at local levels to supervise the proper planting and maintenance of the trees.
According to scientists, planting trees is one of the biggest and cheapest ways of taking CO2 out of the atmosphere to tackle the climate crisis. It is also fundamental to the survival of forest-dwellers, and are important providers of ecosystem services, including maintaining, restoring soil fertility, protecting watersheds and water courses.
A majority of the trees planted will be fruit and medicinal trees of commercial value. The project will also empower youth who will be tasked with raising high quality tree seedlings in nurseries as an income generating activity.
Other than this campaign, Equity has other initiatives in the Energy and Environment space ongoing that have seen it plant more than 1 million trees in the Mau Water Tower.
Equity Group CEO and Managing Director, Dr. James Mwangi had this to say, “At Equity, we are very keen on promoting sustainable finance by concentrating on People and Planet as we conduct our business. In an effort to conserve the environment, Equity has partnered with Kenya Forest Service (KFS) to promote Farm Forestry Initiatives – this spirit of public private partnerships (PPP) is from the fact that 77 % of deforestation and land degradation is caused by agriculture activities, hence the need to work closely with Forest and Farm Producers to encourage them to adopt sustainable solutions for preserving natural environments.”