Nairobi, April 25th 2009 - The Ngong Hills Forest will this weekend receive a Kshs 15 million gift from the Plant a Future Initiative.

This initiative which brings together Kenya Airways, Coca-Cola, Rolls Royce and KLM in this environmental collaboration was launched in April 2007. This year, the “Plant a Future” campaign have partnered again and will be planting over 120,000 tree seedlings.

The Ngong Forest ecosystem which supports most of the rivers and springs that feed into Nairobi’s Central Business District water supply has suffered extensive damage in the last 12 years. The four companies are collaborating in “Plant a Future’ campaign.

Kenya Airways which currently flies to over 30 destinations has contributed over Kshs 25 million to the “Plant a Future” initiative in the last 3 years. This project targets not only the environment but also water, health and education. KQ CEO, Titus Naikuni says “Kenya Airways’ participation is fuelled by our commitment to protecting an ecosystem that is directly on our flight path and also because of the high success rate of the seedlings planted last year.”

Only indigenous tree seedlings have been planted in the last two years owing to their unique soil erosion protection abilities.

Also participating, is leading engine manufacturer Rolls-Royce. The company whose jet engines can be found in the fleets of most leading airlines including those of Kenya Airways has used its “engineering expertise to reduce aircraft fuel burn by 70 per cent and noise by 75 per cent”. Speaking on this initiative, Metin Oktay, Customer Business Director for Rolls-Royce said, "At Rolls-Royce we are determined to be a part of the solution to the environmental challenge before us.”

“Playing our part here today is a clear step forward on that journey, and we congratulate the people of Kenya for continuing to develop this fantastic planting scheme,” he added.

Speaking on behalf of Coca-Cola, Kelvin Balogun, the East Africa Franchise General Manager noted that there was heightened public awareness of global climate change and its impact on water, biodiversity, agriculture and human health.

“Companies, public and private sectors and civil society must put policies and governance structures to help manage environmental issues in a sustainable way,” Mr Balogun said. “Coca-Cola has developed a sustainable view to environmental protection and around the world, we have been committed to this cause for over half a century,” he said.

Other partners include, Kenya Wildlife Services, the University of Nairobi Forestry Department, the Forestry Department and the local community. The project is in its third consecutive year. The first phase, in April 2007 saw 130,000 indigenous tree seedlings planted, while in the second phase in April 2008 200,000 indigenous trees seedlings were planted in the forest.

Naikuni says there has been significant progress in the first and second phases of the project, “which has witnessed a 90 per cent success rate.”

The Ngong Forest catchment area requires 3 million indigenous trees to fully recover. Experts estimate that Kenya must plant over seven billion trees to achieve the minimum 10 percent forest cover recommended by the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP). The experts reckon that over the years, Kenya's forest cover has reduced to less than 2 per cent of her land area, with most of the damage attributed to illegal logging.

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