Friday 20 April 2007….EABL Green team, on a mission to save the endangered Mau forests that surround the Lake Nakuru National Park, planted over 4000 indigenous trees in the Mau Complex.
E Green team, an EABL staff driven initiative formed to facilitate tree planting in water catchments also donated Kshs.100, 000 to the Kenya Wildlife Service, which has been vital in ensuring the rehabilitation of the area. The money will be used to buy tree seedlings to be planted in the vast Mau Catchments.
The Mau Forest Complex is referred as one of the five major water towers for Kenya. It spans across the four districts of Narok, Nakuru, Bomet and Trans-Mara and the Mau watershed is the source of water supply four districts and their surroundings.
This is an area of high potential in water resources but also fragile. Several rivers and streams supplying fresh water to areas of high biodiversity originate in these forests.
The Mara River originating on the western flank of the Mau Escarpment flows through the Mara-Serengeti ecosystem before discharging into Lake Victoria.
Others include the Sondu, Yala, Nzoia and Nyando rivers all flowing into Lake Victoria. Streams originating in the Eburru basin flow into Lakes Nakuru and Naivasha, which are designated as Ramsar and UNESCO World Heritage sites.
The Ewaso Nyiro river drains into Lake Natron in Tanzania, which is the only regular breeding site for the more than two million flamingos found on the Rift Valley lakes of Eastern Africa while Kerio and Molo rivers feed Lakes Turkana and Baringo respectively.
The Lake Nakuru National Park Senior Warden Charles Muthui said, “Apart from the invaluable role rivers and streams play in sustaining the biodiversity of this region, they are a crucial source of water for human and livestock populations.”
The E-Green team by EABL Foundation Manager Jean Kiarie, KWS officials and community members living near the forests planted trees before touring Lake Nakuru National Park to see the devastation of deforestation to the area.
Speaking briefly during the exercise Ms Kiarie said that it is most important that every company acts in an environmentally responsible manner.
She added that the team dubbed the ‘E- Green Team’ was part of the company’s commitment to ensuring sustainable environment. The team makes contributions for tree planting from their salaries. This is then matched three fold by the EABL Foundation and members then deliberate and select the proposed areas for the tree planting exercises.
“EABL as a company abides by NEMA (National Environmental Management Authority) standards and we intend to become more actively involved in environmental projects such as the tree planting and the protection of our forests and national parks. We are very focused on environmental protection and we urge other companies to do the same, through greater conservation and environmental protection – all aspects of life in Kenya will improve”, she said.
The company has supported other environmental projects – it contributed to the Aberdare Fence Project 2003. The E Green Team has already planted thousands of trees in EABL Ruaraka plant, Ndakaini Dam, Gatanga area in Thika and has plans for more environmental projects this year.
