Kenya Airways plants another 250 000 trees

Through an initiative called "Plant-a-Future", the airline is one of many organisations that since 2007, have committed themselves to various environmental activities. These are geared to boost the national forest cover from a crippled 2 percent to a targeted 10 percent, following the country's development blueprint "Vision 2030". The "Plant-a-Future" initiative has so far resulted in over 500 000 indigenous trees being planted in the Ngong Hills Forest. This year, a further 250 000 trees have been planted bringing the total to 750 000. Officers from the Kenyan Air Force and Kenya Wildlife Service's participated in this year's initiative alongside other stakeholders. These include engine manufacturer Rolls-Royce, Coca-Cola, KLM, the Ministry of Forestry, Kenya Forestry Services, the University of Nairobi's Forestry Department, Rotaract and the local community.

Speaking at this year's tree-planting ceremony, Kenya Airways CEO, Dr Titus Naikuni, expressed that the airline's participation has been fuelled by their commitment to protect the Ngong Hills ecosystem. "This ecosystem is directly within our flight path, hence why we have over the past four years remained firm in our commitment of planting trees annually in order to boost the Ngong Hills ecosystem," he said.

Three million trees needed

Naikuni also said that while significant progress was made in the first and second phases of the project, the third phase was affected by the prolonged drought of 2009, in which many of the seedlings dried up. 2010 had "Plant-A-Future" focus on replacing the affected seedlings, and 90 000 indigenous new ones were planted, over and above the 30 000 already established in the surrounding area.

The Ngong Hills reforestation programme is one of the many initiatives that Kenya Airways is undertaking to reduce its carbon footprint, which is in line with international environmental and aviation standards. This includes the airline's ongoing fleet modernisation programme, in which the airline will phase out older model planes and bring into service modern, fuel-efficient carriers.

The Ngong Forest catchment area requires 3 million indigenous trees to recover fully.

For more information, contact Tracey King at Kenya Airways on +27 (0)11 881 9783, Fax: +27 (0)11 881 9691, email: moc.syawria-aynek@gnik.yecart or go to www.kenya-airways.com.