Nairobi — Risk advisory firm Minet has planted 20,000 tree seedlings in the Matathia block of the Uplands Forest in Kiambu County as part of its ongoing target to plant 500,000 trees in Kenya by 2030.

The new planting brings the total number of trees planted by the firm over the past three years to 46,000, with the latest exercise involving more than 100 local community members. The participants have pledged to nurture the trees to maturity.

Kenya loses an estimated 84,700 hectares of forest annually, with a further 14,900 hectares degraded, according to the 2024 Forest Status Report by the Kenya Forest Service. The report attributes deforestation to activities such as logging, charcoal burning, and agricultural expansion, with the resulting damage estimated to cost the economy over Sh534 billion annually in lost carbon storage, reduced agricultural yields, and water resource depletion.

Minet CEO Sammy Muthui said reforestation is no longer just an environmental issue but a broader development challenge tied to food security, energy production, and climate resilience.

The initiative supports national targets under Kenya's Forest Ecosystem Landscape Restoration Strategy, which seeks to plant 15 billion trees and restore over 10 million hectares of degraded land by 2032.

Minet had planned to plant more trees in 2024, but efforts were halted following a landslide at the intended site. The program resumed in 2025 after clearance from forest authorities.

The Kenya National Bureau of Statistics 2025 Economic Survey indicates that areas under new tree planting doubled from 2,400 hectares in 2023 to 4,900 hectares last year, reflecting an upswing in national reforestation efforts.

Minet says the trees planted this year could, once mature, produce enough oxygen to support about 10,000 people and absorb over 440,000 kilograms of carbon dioxide annually.