Patrick Kuria, a veteran mountain climber, recently completed a 12 hour summit of Mt. Kenya to raise awareness for the Climb for trees initiative advocating for reforestation. The initiative saw over 7,000 trees planted on the day of the summit.
The reforestation initiative dubbed the Mt. Kenya Summit challenge saw a challenging climb with 15 people accompanying Mr. Kuria who set out at 3 am up the steep mountain till Lenana point. He later descended the mountain at 3 pm, completing the challenge within the estimated time.
Kenya Breweries Limited (KBL) through their beer brand Whitecap, were key sponsors for the summit challenge. The company sought to reinforce the efforts on sensitisation of the Mt. Kenya reforestation agenda.
Speaking after his 12 hour feat, an excited Kuria remarked, “I’m excited to have summited Mt. Kenya for an initiative as noble as to create awareness on environmental conservation. The 12-hour challenge was grueling to keep up with the time but we pulled it off. I’m happier because we also achieved our primary goal to create awareness as we managed to get a tree donated for every minute we are on the Mountain. We appreciate the role that corporations like KBL have played in driving this agenda forward and I hope we all play our part to realise the audacious target of 10% of forest cover by 2030.”
All proceeds from the climbing activity will be channeled towards planting more than 50,000 trees across the Mount Kenya ecosystem. Mt. Kenya plays a critical role as a water catchment for the country and is one of the five main “water towers” of Kenya, alongside the Aberdare Ranges, Mau Complex, Cherangany Hills and Mt Elgon.
The Mt. Kenya Summit Challenge is part of several ongoing environmental conservation activities targeting an area that has seen increased deforestation and land degradation in the recent past. This has continued to affect the climate ecosystem in that region.
The tree planting initiative comes in wake of the KBL’s recent launch of their inaugural sustainability report indicating its processes and mechanisms to support communities and sustainable businesses. The report also highlighted the company’s climate change agenda where they have actively championed use of 82% renewable energy across their sites in Kenya and in the wider East African region.