UNEP Private Sector Tree Planting Partnership in Kenya: Nairobi River Basin Programme

Launch of the tree planting week
On 12 March 2008, the Nairobi River Basin Programme saw the planting of 3,000 indigenous tree seedlings in the Karura forest. The event was the beginning of the UNEP-Private Sector tree-planting initiative under the Nairobi River Basin Programme. The tree planting partnership aims to establish long-term co-operation with the private sector on tree-planting activities and to contribute to UNEP’s Billion Tree Campaign, Climate Neutral Strategy and catchments protection.

The seedlings were purchased from the adjacent Huruma community’s tree nurseries. The community also prepared the ground for planting and will be responsible for the after-care of the planted trees.

Participating at the event were the Nobel Laureate, Professor Wangari Maathai, the UNEP Executive Director, Mr. Achim Steiner, the UN Resident Coordinator, Ms. Elizabeth Lwanga, and ten Nairobi-based companies. Four companies (Kenya-Shell, ABC Bank, Unilever-Kenya and Eveready) were represented at the CEO level. Others included Barclays Bank, Kenya Commercial Bank, Nation Media Group, EABL-Foundation, Total-Kenya and Unilever-Tea. The event was sponsored by the EABL Foundation.

Nairobi River Basin Programme is a multi-stakeholder initiative that brings together the Government of Kenya, UNEP, UN-Habitat, UNDP, the private sector and civil society. Since 2005, UNEP, UNDP and UN-Habitat, working as a ‘One-UN’ team, have planted 12,000 seedlings covering 12 hectares in both Karura and Ngong forests which are remnants of the closed canopy forests that characterised Nairobi when the railway arrived in 1890. A cross-section of Nairobi’s landscape shows that it is a city of rivers, whose water is replenished from springs and wetlands that are nourished by forests.

In 2007, the Kenya Forest Service granted UNEP 110 hectares of open space in both Karura and Ngong forests. UNEP undertook to in-fill these spaces with indigenous trees in partnership with the Private Sector based in Nairobi to plant as many trees as possible in 2008. In order to achieve this, the Nairobi River Basin Programme is already working with the Kenya Forest Service to engage the youth of Internally Displaced Persons to clear the open spaces in these forests for tree planting. The IDPs will also be taken through counseling sessions during the exercise, and this is UNEP's contribution towards the rehabilitation and peace-building amongst communities that have been most affected by post-election violence.