Kenya's President William Ruto has officially launched a tree planting campaign, with Kenyans encouraged to grow 100 million trees across the country on Monday alone - a day declared a public holiday.
Kenya has vowed to plant 15 billion trees by 2032 in a bid to boost Kenya's forest cover following the worst drought to ravage the Horn of Africa region in 40 years.
The president has said this move is part the country's climate action. He has faced criticism from environmentalists over his decision in July to lift a nearly six-year moratorium on logging.
Ruto, however, defended that move, saying it would create jobs and adding that it was "foolishness" to let mature trees rot while sawmills were importing timber.
Kenya’s current forest cover stands at about 7% but the government has set aside more than $80 million this financial year, as it bids to increase tree cover to more than 10%.
The impact of drought has been severe in the Horn of Africa region with the Global Forest Watch estimating Kenya lost more than 50,000 hectares (193 sq miles) of primary forest or 14 percent of its tree cover from 2002 to 2022.
