President William Ruto has announced the deployment of 15,000 National Youth Service (NYS) officers to boost tree planting efforts across the country as part of Kenya’s fight against climate change.
Speaking during the commemoration of Mazingira Day at State House, Nairobi, on Friday, October 10, 2025, Ruto said the officers will work alongside Kenya Forest Service (KFS) personnel to accelerate the country’s reforestation and tree-growing initiatives.
The President, accompanied by First Lady Rachel Ruto, led the nation in tree planting during the event. He was received by Environment, Climate Change and Forestry Cabinet Secretary Deborah Barasa and Chief Conservator of Forests Alex Lemarkoko.
Ruto emphasized that addressing climate change requires proactive action such as forest restoration and sustainable tree growing. He added that conserving forests directly supports food security since water from forest catchments sustains agriculture and irrigation.
“To achieve our environmental goals, 15,000 NYS officers will work hand in hand with KFS officers to upscale the production of seedlings to at least two billion annually in all the 300 KFS nurseries,” the President said.
He further revealed plans to establish 17 mega nurseries, each capable of producing 25 million seedlings, to accelerate Kenya’s 15 billion tree-growing campaign aimed at restoring forest cover and combating climate change.
This year’s Mazingira Day was observed under the “whole government, whole society” approach. Government officials, including Cabinet Secretaries and Principal Secretaries, returned to their former primary schools to lead tree-planting drives.
According to KFS, pupils across 35,000 primary schools will participate by planting at least 2,000 fruit seedlings per school, targeting over 100 million seedlings during the short rains season.
The tree-growing campaign will continue nationwide as the government seeks to meet its ambitious environmental goals and ensure a greener, more sustainable future for Kenya.
