By Augustine Oduor
Form afar it looked like a swaying, green fence stretching across the grassland plains to the horizon south of Nairobi National Park.
From close range, a little girl named Tess Wairimu, four, rolled up her green sleeves, scooped wet soil with her tender fingers and, with a broad smile, placed it into a hole to plant a seedling.
With her sister, Nikita Muthoni, five, both from Lauret School in Kiambu, they were part of one of the most unique environmental conservation efforts ever to save the Nairobi National Park from degradation.
The exercise, conducted on Saturday, the World Environment Day, saw over 5,000 stakeholders and volunteers join hands to draw a human âgreenâ chain (all wore green) that stretched over seven kilometers.
It was a snaking green spectacle supervised by a Kenya Wildlife Service ( KWS) helicopter that hovered overhead along the length of the human chain. Some of over 5,000 people who took part in forming a seven-kilometre human chain in Nairobi National Park to raise awareness against the effects of human encroachment and start a green line marked with trees. The event marked the World Environment Day. Photos: Courtesy
The effort was the culmination of an awareness campaign led by KWS and corporate stakeholders who are keen to preserve the worldâs only park in a major city.
The participants were invited through KWS sponsor companies under Kenya Association of Manufacturers. Main partners were Kenya Airways, General Motors, Sarova Group of Hotels and Sandy Vohra Foundation, among others.
Energy consumption
The human chain signified a shield round the national park against human encroachment and degradation.
