EPK win Tree Planting & Forest Conservation Award

Adequate forest cover is critical for stabilising climates for agriculture, regulating water flows in catchment areas, absorbing carbon dioxide and helping to prevent natural disasters.

Drawn from 47 counties across Kenya, the Tree Planting and Forest Conservation award recognises conservation heroes, showing appreciation for the great role individual tree growers, pastoralists, forest adjacent communities, community organizations and the private sector play in enhancing Kenya’s forest cover.

The award ceremony took place on the 23rd of June 2017 at the Kenya Forest Service Headquarters in Karura.  Her Excellency The First Lady Margaret Kenyatta and the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources officials among others attended the event.

Tree growers were challenged to ensure forestry programmes create meaningful impacts on food security, incomes and human wellbeing at house hold level, involving both women and children allowing them to benefit from forestry related projects.

EPK, representing Nandi County emerged as the 2nd Runners up in “The Best Industry Players Category”. EPK was commended, with extensive annual tree planting programmes clearly showing their outstanding contribution towards increasing forest cover in Kenya. EPK were also recognized for creating and maintaining a balance between agriculture, conservation forestry and plantation forestry, evidenced by high quality seedling production for conservation and plantation forestry nurseries, protected water catchments and wetland areas, ecotourism sites serving the local communities, bee keeping activities, and sensitization of local communities and schools towards adopting tree planting and forest conservation culture.