According to him, in order to succeed in tree planting, spiritual intervention is required because the act is linked to biblical revelations.
Kenyan President, Williams Ruto, has blamed the failure of several tree-planting exercises in his country on the absence of prayer before planting.
Ruto stated this in a video uploaded by NTV Kenya on their verified Twitter page, in which the President was heard analysing the efficacy of a tree-planting exercise in combating the effects of global climate change.
According to him, in order to succeed in tree planting, spiritual intervention is required because the act is linked to biblical revelations.
He reinforced his confidence that Kenya's plan to plant billions of trees over the next decade will be achievable now that prayer has been integrated into the process.
He also expressed his gratitude as President of Kenya for the Climate Change hosting rights awarded to his country, which will help the country battle climate change.
He said, “Kenya has been honoured with the tremendous privilege to host African Climate Summit in September. I am confident that our commitment in the field of environmental protection and look forward for your strong support and participation to make the event a memorable success.
“It is an honour today to join the list of world leaders who had planted trees… That event has given me new meaning for tree planting. That it is not only a good thing to protect our environment, I was pleased to learn this afternoon that it is also biblical and it is also spiritual.
“Mr President, I understand here because, for the first time, I found out that we have to pray before we plant trees. We have always tried to plant trees in Kenya and our success has been missed. I think because we did not have the element of prayer. So now that we do, I am very confident that now that we do, we will succeed in our plan to plant 15 billion trees in the next 10 years.”
In 2022, Ruto launched an initiative, which aims to plant 15 billion trees by 2032.
It is aimed at reducing greenhouse emissions, reversing deforestation, and restoring 5.1 million hectares of deforested and degraded landscapes.