Kenya's Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka on Saturday called for increased efforts in environmental conservation which is key to the country's attaining food security.

Closing a week-long National Convention for School Pupils under the sponsorship of the Green Friends Foundation, Musyoka also said the country can benefit more through eco-tourism thus diversifying the tourism sector by additional products.

"Nairobi was once known as 'a green city in the sun', let us restore our lost glory by going green through additional efforts in conserving our environment," he said.

The convention brought together over 130 children from six regions and different ethnic communities in the country.

The theme of the convention was 'A child a tree, One people One Nation' urging young Kenyans to interact freely and be ready to tackle social, political, economic and humanitarian crisis whenever it challenges unity of the country.

The program that also prioritize environmental conservation among the youth is jointly sponsored by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), Green Friends Foundation, Kenya National Civic Education Program (Uraia) and the Kenya Forest Services.

During the bonding event, children planted several tree seedlings as a sign of unity through environmental conservation and certificates of appreciation was also awarded to best performers.

The VP commended the efforts by the sponsors and in particular the Canadian government for supporting Kenya's quest to attaining a sustainable peace and national cohesion.

"Canada is one of the world's cosmopolitan countries that has sustained peaceful co-existence amongst various communities and it is a good example for Kenyans to emulate," he noted.

Musyoka also noted that Canada has been able to conserve their environment with considerable tree cover, and called on Kenyans to plant more trees to attain the internationally recommended 10 percent tree cover.

He paid glowing tribute to the late environmentalist and Nobel laureate, Professor Wangari Maathai, for her efforts in protecting Karura forest at the time when the country was facing strong forces of public land grabbing and wanton deforestation.

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