Trees and trash a focus for World Environment Day

The Nairobi-based United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is coordinating a multifaceted programme to mark World Environment Day, which falls on Wednesday, by "contributing to the healing of the ailing planet".

In one initiative, some 6,500 indigenous trees are to be planted in an environmentally damaged part of the Aberdare Mountains in central Kenya, which is intended to help restore the health of local rivers, retain moisture in the land and stabilise soils.

The tree-planting campaign, backed by the Department of Forestry and Kijabe Environment Volunteers, is also compatible with UNEP's efforts to offset its use of paper at its global headquarters in Gigiri, Nairobi.

Deforestation and its environmental effects are a live issue in Kenya, with some recent extreme climatic phenomena (including severe drought from 1998 to 2000) partially attributed to the country's disappearing forest cover and campaigners challenging a decision announced by the government in October 2001 to de-gazette (and thereby end state protection of) some 4 percent of the country's remaining forests.

Kenya is classified among countries affected by chronic water scarcity in both its urban and rural areas, with between 75 and 85 percent of its land arid or semiarid, notably in the north and east. Less than 2 percent of its land surface is now under forest cover - far below the international standard, which requires countries to maintain as forest cover at least 10 percent of their land, according to experts.

Twenty clean-up exercises have also been organised, targeting litter-strewn areas in Kenya, with a concentration on the Madaraka suburb of Nairobi.

An exhibition on "Turning Trash into Cash" at the National Museum of Kenya, in Nairobi, aims at demonstrating that rubbish and litter have economic value and can be recycled into a wide range of useful products.

Regional government, industry and civil society representatives are also to gather in Nairobi from Wednesday to Friday, 5-7 June, to devise an action plan for phasing out lead in petrol in Burundi, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Eritrea and Kenya.

"Lead in petrol has been identified by experts across the globe as a health hazard", believed to impair intelligence in children, and is also a major air pollutant in East African cities and towns, UNEP stated in a press release.

Another focus will be on the pollution, waste management and water treatment problems of Athi River, a key industrial and export-processing zone on the outskirts of Nairobi.

The celebrations have got volunteers, students and youth involved in essay and art competitions, clean-ups and environmental promotion rallies, and have drawn company participation, particularly sponsorship.

It has also secured the participation of journalists and media companies (including Kenya Broadcasting Corporation, Kenya Television Network, FM radio stations and local newspapers) in reporting critically on the environment, while promoting an understanding that "communities are pivotal to changing attitudes towards environmental issues".

This year's theme for Global Environment Day is "Give Earth a Chance", which is intended "to convey a message of urgency about the state of the earth and the broader quest for sustainable development".

"More than ever, we need to take the necessary steps to ensure that the environment remains on top of the global agenda" and attracts the relevant political attention and action, said the UNEP executive director, Klaus Toepfer.