The Chief Conservator of Forests Julius Kamau on Saturday led a tree planting exercise with players and supporting staff of the Sporty Football Club at Tambaya stadium in Nyeri County.
500 indigenous tree seedlings were planted around the stadium.
The stadium is the training grounds for the team currently playing and leading in the Nyeri County Football Kenya Federation (FKF) league.
Kamau said Kenya Forest Service has instituted an open-door policy for collaboration and partnerships with entities both, public and private, as a strategy towards the attainment of the 10% national tree cover target by 2022.
He said that the world of sports is also one of the avenues through which KFS leverages to mainstream the importance of tree growing to the nation and members of the public.
Kamau noted that KFS sporting teams have also been in the lead in promoting this culture by conducting tree planting exercises with other teams in all the tournaments/fixtures that they participate in across the country.
The CCF underscored the importance of trees as natural suppliers of pure oxygen pointing out the need to green all stadiums.
“As sportsmen and women, when you are on the field playing a match, your body requires more oxygen than on average to function,” Kamau said.
He encouraged tree growing beyond the stadiums to farmlands and on all other available spaces as the country experiences long sufficient rains promoting tree growing.
The CCF was joined by KFS staff from the County led by Nyeri Ecosystem Conservator, and the region’s County Commissioner.