Jambojet joins the Adopt a Forest Campaign to promote forest cover

NAIROBI, Kenya, June 17 (Reuters) – Jambojet Limited and Kenya Forest Service (KFS) have partnered to plant 1000 trees on one hectare of land in the Ngong Hills Forest to meet the government set target of 10 percent forest cover by the end of this year year to achieve.

The airline has joined the KFS Adopt-A-Forest campaign, which aims to increase forest cover and plant 2 million trees by 2032.

Jambojet chief executive Karanja Ndegwa acknowledged at Friday’s groundbreaking ceremony that their operations have had an impact on the environment through carbon emissions, and to offset this they are working to reduce global warming.

“Globally, the dominant discussion about climate change assumes that the earth is about 1.1 degrees Celsius warmer than it was at the end of the 19th century and that emissions will continue to rise. The goal is to keep global warming to no more than 1.5 degrees Celsius and therefore emissions must be reduced by 45 percent by 2030 and reach net zero by 2050,” he said.

The managing director further pointed out that Jambojet plans to replicate the Adopt-A-Forest framework at its seven destinations in Kenya, including Nairobi, Mombasa, Kisumu, Diani, Malindi, Eldoret and Lamu.

“We heed the global call for a zero-net transition, and planting trees is one of the activities we consciously engage in to reduce the environmental impact of our operations. We have been actively involved in tree planting activities with schools, public bodies and the private sector and partnering with the Kenya Forest Service provides a great framework for the uptake,” explained the Jambojet manager.

Francis Kariuki, Nairobi Region Head of Conservancy, said current forest cover is 8.3 percent, versus the 10 percent forest cover set out in Vision 2030.

For his part, Kajiado North Assistant County Commissioner Bathsheba Osiemo reaffirmed the government’s commitment to work with private organizations to address climate change.

“As a national government, we support various organizations. We usually work closely with private entities, so we work as private and public partnerships so that we can accomplish our various missions,” Osiemo said.