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WRM BULLETIN
44 - MARCH 2001
Kenya: Who favours and who
destroys forest biodiversity?
Governments should be directly
responsible for the conservation of the natural and cultural
heritage of their respective countries and people. Nevertheless,
what frequently happens in the South is that the authorities act
in collusion with powerful internal and external interests, and to
the detriment of the country's biodiversity, and thus against the
welfare of the population they are supposed to protect. This is
what is going on in Kenya.
Located in the east coast of
Central Africa, Kenya holds a variety of landscapes: from tropical
rainforests in the coastal plains to arid areas in the dry west
plateau. Such diversity in nature goes together with the existence
of different ethnic groups. Deforestation and desertification are
two environmental problems severely affecting the country. Logging
--both legally granted by concessions and illegal-- an inadequate
policy towards protected areas, megaprojects like dams and
mining, are all putting at risk the rich biodiversity of Kenya. In
the meantime, the government has not only proved to be unable to
stop the process, but has also been active in promoting it.
The case of the highland Tinet
forest area, inhabited from ancestral times by the Ogiek, is a
paradigmatic example of environmental destruction and disregard to
indigenous peoples' rights. In spite of having managed these
forests in a sustainable way, they have been forced to defend
themselves against the arbitrariness of both colonial and
post-colonial governments, who have ignored them and menaced them
to get hold of their lands arguing that they are within the
boundaries of a protected area included in the country's Forest
Act. Nonetheless it is not a preservationist interest what moves
the authorities. In Kenya there is a logging ban in force but
three powerful companies --Pan African Paper Mills, Raiply Timber,
and Timsales Ltd.-- are exempted from it, and prepared to enter
the Tinet Forests once the Ogiek are expelled. Regarding protected
areas it seems that the authorities have not learnt from past
mistakes. In the mid-1970s, Massai residents of southern Kenya
were abruptly relocated from land that was subsequently enclosed
within the Amboseli National Park, one of the continent's most
visited wildlife reserves. Deprived of their lands and as a
desperate way of showing their protest, the Massai reacted by
killing many of Amboseli's most prized tourist attractions,
including dozens of leopards, elephants, and rhinos. Both the
fauna and indigenous people suffered as a consequence of a
mistaken approach with regard to biodiversity conservation.
The announcement made by the
government last February according to which many areas of forest
reserves spread all over the country --totalling 67,150 hectares--
will be left without legal protection confirms that there is no
clear policy for forest biodiversity conservation in Kenya.
National environmental NGOs gathered in the Greenbelt have
expressed their intention to present a formal objection to the
proposed forest excisions, and the Kenya Forests Working Group is
organizing an international campaign to oppose it. Severe droughts
have affected the Kenyan territory in the last two years.
Considering the connection existing between deforestation and the
fall in rainfall patterns, the destruction of these forests would
aggravate the problem and at the same time be detrimental to the
flora and fauna they are home to.
Megaprojects constitute another
pending menace on the country's biodiversity. For example the dam
project on the Sondu Miriu River, one of the major rivers in the
Lake Victoria Basin, is threatening local biodiversity. Even
though the power station is scheduled to be operational in 2003,
the diversion of the river will cause the disruption of the whole
hydrological basin, with negative consequences on wildlife. Rare
species, like the Colobus monkeys and hippopotamus, which depend
on the river for their survival will be forced to seek a source of
water at the lower populous Nyakwere plains disturbing their
habitat. The government is backing the project and the Japan Bank
for International Cooperation, together with a Norvegian and a
South African company are giving financial and technical support
to it. The NGO coalition Africa Waters Network has denounced this
danger, and at the same time local villagers are resisting the
project, which would mean the forced abandonment of their
agricultural lands.
Last but not least, mangroves
situated in the coast near Mombasa on the Indian Ocean are in
danger because of a titanium mining project by a Canadian firm.
Kenyan organizations gathered in the Coast Mining Rights Forum
have recently launched an international letter campaign,
targetting the government and financial partners --the World Bank
included-- denouncing the expected effects of mine exploitation in
the area and demanding its suspension until a serious
environmental impact assessment is performed.
In sum: the answer to the question
we have posed regarding biodiversity conservation in Kenya is
clear. On one side there are local communities and environmental
NGOs trying to protect the country's biodiversity. On the opposite
site there are the authorities, transnational companies,
international banks and "developers", whose actions
result in its destruction.
Article based on information from: http://www.globalresponse.org/gra_index/2000.html
;
Lynette Obare, Forest Action
Network, 6/3/2001, e-mail: lobare@hotmail.com
;
Nabil El-Khodari, 27/2/2001,
e-mail: khodari@yahoo.com
;
Paula Palmer, 23/2/2001, e-mail: paulap@globalresponse.org
;
WildNet, 17/2/2001, e-mail: wildnet@ecoterra.net
WORLD RAINFOREST MOVEMENT
MOVIMIENTO MUNDIAL POR LOS BOSQUES International Secretariat
Maldonado 1858, CP 11200 Montevideo Uruguay Ph +598 2 403 2989 Fax
+598 2 408 0762 E-mail: wrm@wrm.org.uy
Web page: http://www.wrm.org.uy
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