Kisumu City Greening Initiative

On Friday 21 st April 2023, Prof. Charles Rambo, the Associate Dean, Kisumu Campus in the
Company of Faculty/Executive programme Coordinators, Dr. Nixon Omoro, Dr. Paul Ogendi
and Dr. Isaac Abuya at the Kisumu Campus led the staff and students in joining the Governor,
Kisumu County, Professor Peter Anyang Nyong’o, Manager City of Kisumu, Standard
Chartered Bank in actualizing the collaboration of a tree planting initiative that began as a
discussion between Dr. Scholastica Omondi, Faculty of Law, Kisumu Campus and Mr. Onjala,
Manager, Standard Bank.
The need to beautify the city cannot be over emphasized bearing in mind its strategic location in
the Great lakes region and beyond. It’s a conduit centre where citizens from the three East
Africa Countries bordering the Lake Victoria converge for business, professional engagements
and acquisition of higher education especially with the advent of top universities like UON which
is attracting students from the Great Lakes and the Horn of Africa in a newly developed course
on Monitoring and Evaluation (MEAL), Masters in Law and Political Science.
The City aims to plant 3 million trees within the County in the next 3 years. This is in response
to the global call for action against climate change. Climate change poses a real but unseen
threat to the well-being and survival of millions around the world. The impacts of climate change
are manifested through extreme weather events such as high temperatures, excessively high
rainfall or lower than normal rainfall. Low and middle income economy countries are more
vulnerable to these impacts due to their weak infrastructure/capacity to withstand socio-
economic and environmental shocks caused by these extreme weather patterns. 
 
For instance, in Kisumu and its environs, climate variability has caused increased surface air
temperatures and decrease in rainfall. These changes are felt through hot, drier weather, heat
waves and drought conditions which negatively impact the agricultural sector in the region. With
reduced rainfall the water levels in Lake Victoria are expected to reduce as 80% of its inflow is
from rainfall from the water catchment areas. To mitigate the above, the City of Kisumu is
creating awareness among its residents through the launch of this initiative.
In order to maintain a city that can attract more investors, the need to invest in policies that are
geared towards mitigating climate change effects is core. Of importance is the inclusion of
women in climate change decision-making process as they constitute a higher percentage of
those who are involved in, and rely on livelihoods and activities which depend directly on the
natural environment.

We salute the management of the City of Kisumu for engaging and developing cordial
relationship with stakeholders by providing the much needed support like the availing of the
Kicomi Airport Corridor to the Standard chartered Bank to establish a healthy row of trees that

are socially acceptable, environmentally beneficial and aesthetically appealing given their
location along one of the County’s main highways of the Kisumu-Busia highway. The project
will increase tree cover, as well as improve environmental quality, enhancing biodiversity of both
trees and humans, promoting aesthetic view of Kisumu City as well as the psychological and
social well-being of the residents. A long-term benefit will be to positively influence the
microclimate of this area, thus contributing to overall climate change mitigation efforts.
As an institution of higher learning whose mission is to provide quality university education and
training, to embody the aspirations of the Kenyan people and the global community through
creation, preservation, integration, transmission and utilization of knowledge, we commit
ourselves to supporting the City of Kisumu and any other stakeholders in realizing their mission
and objectives.
The University of Nairobi, Kisumu Campus sincerely appreciates the cordial working relations
between the institution and other stakeholders. Thanks to all that participated in the program.