By Dickson Mwiti
Meru County, currently ranked third in Kenya in tree cover, has emerged as a leading champion of the Model Village approach, touted to be the game-changer for Kenya’s green future.
Mr Lawrence Muthamia, an economist at the Forestry Department and the focal person for realizing 15 billion trees by 2032, said that with strategic partnerships, citizen engagement, and strong institutional leadership, Meru is well-positioned to become the best county nationwide in tree cover.
“We want Meru to inspire the nation. Let every county adopt the Model Village vision. Together, we shall grow a greener, safer, and more prosperous Kenya by 2032,” said Mr Muthamia.
He added that with the County being the flagship of this initiative, more than 30 schools have established fruit tree nurseries, not only greened their learning spaces but also empowered students to be custodians of Kenya’s environmental future.
Other notable ongoing works include the establishment of creation of community woodlots, capacity-building for youth and women groups, and the development of green innovation hubs.
These initiatives, Muthamia said, serve as demonstration centers for sustainable agroforestry and climate-smart livelihoods.
“The Ministry calls on all counties, civil society organizations, development partners, and the private sector to rally behind this framework.”
“The Model Village Framework aligns with Kenya Vision 2030, the Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda (BETA), the National Landscape and Ecosystem Restoration Strategy, the Kenya Forest Policy 2023, and international commitments such as the AFR100, Bonn Challenge, and the SDGs,” said Mr Muthamia.
Meanwhile, youth and women-led groups in the county are also establishing community woodlots, supported by technical guidance and input supply chains from the Kenya Forest Service (KFS) and development partners.
These efforts, he said, are supported by a robust Monitoring, Reporting, and Verification (MRV) system to ensure transparency, survival tracking, and long-term impact measurement.
He said that the Government continues to advance its transformative environmental agenda by institutionalizing the Model Village Framework—an inclusive, locally anchored approach to tree growing, climate resilience, and sustainable development.
“The Model Village Framework is the sure bet for realizing the Government’s transformative agenda on environmental restoration, forestry development, and climate action—including the ambitious 15 billion Tree Growing Campaign aimed at achieving 30 percent national tree cover by 2032,” said Mr Muthamia.
He said the framework has integrated communities, schools, public institutions, and faith-based organizations into localized tree-growing ecosystems, which promotes Climate-smart livelihoods, Youth empowerment through green education, Sustainable Forest value chains, Food and nutrition security, and Carbon markets and ecosystem services.
