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KENYA GOVERNMENT GIVES AWAY 5% OF ITS FORESTS
Press Release from the Kenya Forests Working Group
Nairobi, Kenya, 2nd November 2001
The Government of Kenya has through the official Kenya Gazette notice that is dated October 19th excised
170,000 acres of forests inspite of the low forest cover of less than 3% of Kenya’s total land area and
objections raised by environmentalists, the general public and pending court cases instituted against the
excisions.
Notices of the proposed excisions were posted in the Kenya Gazette of 16 February 2001. The announcement was
greeted with a barrage of public outrage in the local media and at gatherings around the country. Three legal
proceedings were instituted. Two court cases are pending in court, one by the Ogiek community (descended
from the aboriginal inhabitants of one of the forests in Mau complex that is targeted for excision) which has
a court injunction, one filed by environmentalist Prof
Wangari Maathai and five NGOs which doesn't have an injunction and which is now missing at the courts. The
third case of lawyer Nixon Sifuna was thrown out of court in Eldoret on technicalities.
The proposed excisions contributed to the withdrawal of an environmental award that Kenya was to have received
from the international conservation group Action for Endangered Species (for its stand last year against a
resumption of the global trade in ivory).
The announced excisions will affect the two largest of the five main "water towers" of the country: Mount
Kenya and the Mau Forests.
The East African Wild Life Society (EAWLS) and the Kenya Forests Working Group (KFWG) ask the Kenya
Government to revoke the excisions. The EAWLS is a regional NGO involved in conservation of wildlife and
its habitat. KFWG is a gathering of institutions and organisations (government and non-government, local,
national and international) concerned with forests, their conservation and management.
The EAWLS and KFWG contend that through this excision process, the Government of Kenya will not respect its
obligations under international law. Kenya is a signatory to a number of international conventions on
the environment.
In particular, the large excision in the Mau Forest complex will have grave environmental
consequences. The government has excised an area equal to 7% of the five
major "water towers" of the country. These are the Mt. Kenya, Aberdares, Mau complex, Mt. Elgon and Cherangani
forests. Of these, the affected forests are Mau and Mt. Kenya forests. In Mau complex, they will affect 15% of
the remaining forest reserves.
The excision of Eastern Mau Forest will have a devastating impact on the world's largest
concentration of Flamingoes in Lake Nakuru, which is protected under
international law (Ramsar Convention). The Government plan has excised almost the entire catchment area of
Lake Nakuru, which will lead to major changes in quantity and quality of the water feeding the lake.
Settlements have already encroached on large parts of the area excised, and the effects of soil erosion and
water stress are already being felt. The excision, however, goes beyond the areas already settled and
include forested land (plantations and indigenous) along the crest of the ridge. This will have a severe
impact on the water quality and level of the lake. Lake Nakuru’s value as one of Kenya’s most popular parks,
second highest in revenue, with spin-off benefits to the town of Nakuru, may disappear with the flamingoes.
The excisions of the Mau Forest will significantly reduce the ability of the forest ecosystem to cope with
natural disasters, in particular drought, hence leading to more severe impacts. Drought has affected Kenya
since historical times. The latest drought, experienced in 2000, had a severe impact
on the people of Kenya and the nation's economy, including water and electricity
rationing, since 70% of the electricity is produced by hydro-power plants. Several assessment studies have
shown that the severity of this impact was associated with past and current destruction of Kenyan forests.
The repercussions will also be felt as far as on the mangrove ecosystem of the East-African coast. For
instance, the current deforestation in Mount Kenya leads to a higher siltation in the Tana River and
reduced output in the five hydro-power stations.
The excision will also be severely felt in crop production. Although it will bring more land under
cultivation, it will reduce the productivity of current farms and tea plantations. The destruction of forests
is already affecting the microclimate conditions that are critical to tea growth as well as to other crops.
The excisions will accelerate this process, impacting heavily on the tea sector, which gives the country a
yearly revenue of 450 million USD. This is almost 30% of the total national export revenue.
Furthermore, the excisions will lead to a significant loss of the nation's biodiversity, in particular since
the little remaining forests harbour a disproportionate amount of biodiversity (50% of the plant species, 40%
of the mammal species, 35% of the butterfly species and 30% of the bird species).
Some of the areas excised have already been cleared and settled, as stated by the government. This raises the
issue of poor past management. However, it is the large excisions of the Mau Forests and smaller but critical
wildlife corridors of Mt. Kenya that raise the most concern for the future.
Kenya is best known as a land of arid and semi-arid habitats with little forest. Sadly, the little that
there is has been the focus of unplanned, usually illegal utilization with disastrous consequences for
biodiversity, catchment and loss of soil.
For more information on this press release, contact the Kenya Forests Working Group, c/o The East African Wild
Life Society, P. O Box 20110, Nairobi 00100, Kenya.
Telephone 254 – 2 – 571335/574145, Fax 254 - 2 – 570335/571335,
e-mail eawls@Kenyaweb.com
Contact person is Michael Gachanja.
Other sources of information.
1. Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources,
Maji House, 6th Floor,
Ngong Road,
P. O. Box 49720,
Nairobi, Kenya
Tel. 254 – 2 - 716103
2. The website of the Daily Nation: www.nationaudio.com
3. The Kenya Embassy in your country.
4. References of relevant reports in Kenya.
· The Kenya National Environment Action Plan, 1994.
· The Kenya Forest Master Plan, 1994.
· Wass, Peter (Ed). Kenya’s Indigenous Forests: Status, Management and Conservation. IUCN, 1995.
· Matiru, Violet. Kenya’s Forest Cover, Policy and Practice. IUCN, 2000.
· Kenya Forest Policy, 1996
· Kenya’s Environmental Management and Coordination Act 1999.
5. List of international agreements violated by the excision
process.
· The African Convention on Conservation of Nature and
Natural Resources, to which Kenya became a party on 9th October 1969, requests inter alia, each party to adopt
scientifically-based conservation, utilization and management plans for forests, taking into account the
mportance of the vegetation cover for the maintenance of the water balance of any area, the productivity of
the soils and a habitat requirement of the fauna.
· The Convention on Biological Diversity, which was ratified by Kenya on 26th July 1994, requests, inter
alia, each party to promote the protection of ecosystems, natural habitats and the maintenance of
viable populations of species in natural surroundings.
· The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, which was ratified by Kenya on 30th August
1994, requests, inter alia, each party to promote sustainable management, and promote and co-operate in
the conservation and enhancement of sinks and reservoirs of all greenhouse gases, including forests.
· The Agreement on the Preparation of a Tripartite Environmental Management Programme on Lake Victoria was
signed by the Government of Kenya on 8th May 1994 and entered into force the same day. The Preamble notes
with concern the increased runoff to Lake Victoria affecting its ecological system and recognizes that an
”integrated management of the various resources which constitutes the lake’s environment is
essential“.(applies to Mau forests and other small forests).
· The Government of Kenya is a Party to the Ramsar Convention and Lake Nakuru was listed as one of the
Ramsar Sites as a Wetland of International Importance. (Lake Naivasha has since been added to the list). As a
party to the convention, Kenya has the obligation to ”formulate and implement their planning so as to
promote the conservation of the wetlands in the list. (Applies to Eastern Mau and Nakuru forests).
· On 5th September 1991, Kenya became a party to the Convention for the Protection of World Cultural and
Natural Heritage. Mt. Kenya was inscribed to the list of World Heritage Sites in 1997. Kenya’s obligation
under the Convention includes; ”ensuring the identification, protection,
conservation, presentation and transmission to future generations of the cultural
and natural heritage“. (Applies to Mt. Kenya forest).
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