By Mandere Onyinkwa
A young man with a vision for a greener future stood among saplings and fresh soil, watching an act of planting take on a much larger meaning for the country’s environmental journey.
That man, Amb. Hillary Kiplagat-Buzeki Nebo, stepped into his first official assignment as Kenya’s 15 Billion Trees Campaign Ambassador with a symbolic yet significant milestone already underway.
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He joined the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of KenGen, Eng. Peter Njenga, alongside General Manager for Operations Eng. Julius Odumbe, in marking the planting of KenGen’s one-millionth tree.
The achievement, reached within just ten months, was celebrated as a reflection of growing institutional commitment to environmental restoration, particularly within the energy sector where sustainability is increasingly becoming part of long-term planning rather than a side initiative.
For Amb. Buzeki Nebo, who is also a Guinness World Records holder, the moment carried a deeper message.
“This milestone is a proof of what can be achieved when institutions, leadership, and communities align around a shared environmental purpose,” he said.
He commended KenGen for what he termed its consistent commitment to sustainability and its active role in advancing Kenya’s national afforestation agenda.
He further situated the effort within a broader global framework, noting its alignment with Sustainable Development Goal 13 on Climate Action.
According to him, sustainability is no longer an abstract goal but something that must be embedded in daily institutional operations and decision-making.
However, even as the one-millionth tree was celebrated, attention quickly turned to the future.
The ambassador emphasized that planting is only the beginning, stressing the importance of ensuring high survival rates of trees, strengthening ecological restoration practices, and scaling up afforestation efforts in a scientifically guided and sustainable way.
He also highlighted the importance of continued collaboration with key stakeholders, including the Ministry of Environment, Climate Change and Forestry, the Ministry of Energy, The National Treasury and Economic Planning, the National Environment Management Authority, the United Nations Environment Programme, the Kenya Forest Service, and the Kenya Forest Research Institute.
