Partners pledge millions in support of EA region’s growing forest cover

As the world celebrated the International Day of Forests on 21 March, countries were yet again reminded to push increase efforts to plant more trees and forests. This year’s theme was "Forests and Education." In Kenya, Serena Hotels introduced a tree-planting programme at the Amboseli National Park about 27 years ago, in 1991. To date, working with the local community, about 1.5 million trees have been planted. Serena Hotels has naturalists at all of its properties, who interact with community leaders, sensitising locals on the importance of trees and getting them involved in the tree-planting. They also visit schools and teach the children what types of trees to plant, and how to take care of them. To date, Serena Hotels has planted 6.64 million trees across East Africa. At Amboseli Serena Safari Lodge, seeds from fruits in its kitchen are distributed to locals who grow them and sell the fruit back to the hotel.