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Regional
Monday, November 5, 2001
Kenya 'in Grave Danger' over
Forest Excisions
A JOINT REPORT
THE EASTAFRICAN
KENYA'S SUPPLY of power, water,
timber and timber products is under serious threat if the
government goes ahead with its plan to excise over 170,000 acres
from 14 forests – a tenth of the entire forest cover in the
country.
According to environmental
activists angered by the government's decision, river systems and
groundwater formations will not be spared.
Records from the Meteorological
Department show that only 25 per cent of the country, which
supports 80 per cent of the population, receives good rainfall.
This is only possible because 2.6 per cent of the country's land
area is covered by forests, which play the vital role of
harnessing and storing rainfall. This water is then gradually
released into rivers. Forests, therefore, comprise a critical
catchment of Kenya's river systems and groundwater formations.
Analysts have also predicted grim
prospects for Kenya's economy. "Forest-dependent
installations such as the hydroelectric dams located in the Tana
Basin will be badly affected," said an economist. These dams
were projected to have an economic life of 50 years but are
already choked with silt washed down from denuded forest lands.
Experts have said that the
excisions will impair the hydrological balance of river systems in
Kenya, causing serious floods will be alternating with droughts
and subsequent water shortages for communities living downstream.
They say there is no moral justification for a move that will
benefit a few people upstream and simultaneously cause ruin and
misery to millions downstream.
"The new notices show the
government's determination to push on, despite the concern and
opposition raised," said the co-ordinator of the Kenya
Forestry Working Group (KFWG), Mr Michael Gachanja.
Kenya is currently experiencing a
biting shortage of timber due to past licensing practices that saw
logging extend beyond sustainable . Whole forest plantations were
issued to people referred to as "briefcase sawmillers,"
in contravention of the established forest-licensing mechanism.
This has led to a deficit in wood supply, a situation that led
President Moi to call for the importation of timber early this
year. The current shortfall is estimated at 50 million tonnes per
year.
Opponents of the move cite earlier
statements by the former Minister for Environment and Natural
Resources, Mr Francis Nyenze, and his colleague in the Lands
portfolio, Mr Joseph Nyagah, which reportedly indicated the
government's determination to push ahead despite a public outcry
and petitions.
There are reports that government
surveyors have already moved into many of the forests to carve out
individual parcels, particularly in Kapsaret Forest, which is set
to lose 2,985 acres.
Government surveyors were also
demarcating over 1,000 acres of Onturiri forest in Meru Central
District well before the landmark case filed by environmental
lawyer Nixon Sifuna had been determined.
Some portions of East Mau and South
West Mau forests, which are to lose 35,301.01 hectares and
24,109.01 hectares respectively, are already under mature tea
estates. Government surveyors have already moved into the Hombe
area of Mount Kenya Forest.
"By doing this, the government
has disregarded two additional cases filed against the excisions,"
says Prof Wangari Maathai of the Green Belt Movement. One of these
cases was filed by the Ogiek community, who got an injunction
against the excision of Eastern Mau. The second was filed by a
number of NGOs, including the National Council of Churches of
Kenya (NCCK) and the Kenya Human Rights Commission. In its
application, the commission lists three Acts in the Constitution
and six international conventions the government will be breaking
if it embarks on the project.
Analysts say the excisions will
also be in contravention of the commitments the government made to
safeguard the environment in Sessional Paper No 6 of 1999 on
Environment and Development, the Kenya National Action Plan
of 1994 and the Kenya Forestry Master Plan of 1994.
The government is said to have
embarked on the excisions immediately the court case against the
degazettements filed by Mr Sifuna was thrown out by an Eldoret
court.
The move has been opposed by the
Kenya Alliance of Residential Associations (KARA). Headed by Mr
Mike Mills, KARA had earlier written to the Minister for the
Environment objecting to the proposed excisions.
"But we have not received
acknowledgement of our letter and have no confidence that our
views have been properly considered," said Mr Mills, who
added that KARA's position was that "the government has no
right to proceed with such a significant adjustment of our already
depleted forests without taking into consideration and addressing
the concerns and objections raised by everybody." The
excisions will see forests in Kenya literally decimated. They
initially triggered a heated public debate, which culminated in
the filing of the three cases. Many Kenyans had hoped that,
through these cases, the legal system would safeguard their
interests.
The Eastern Mau Forest is a crucial
source of head waters for the most important rivers in Kenya,
including Molo, Njoro, Ewaso Ngiro, and Nyangores, a tributary of
the Mara River that supports wildlife in the sprawling Maasai Mara
National Reserve. The Mara River is itself part of the headwaters
for River Sondu, on which Kenya expects to tap power from the
ongoing Ksh12 billion ($152 million) Sondu-Miriu Hydro Electric
Power Station.
Experts say that Kenya cannot
afford the consequences of interfering with the Mau Forest
ecosystem as its hydrological regulative function has an annual
value of over Ksh220 million ($2.78 million) and Ksh96 million
($1.22 million) for Kenya and Tanzania respectively.
The excisions will pose a grave
environmental danger to a country still reeling from past plunder
of forests. The Forest Department concedes that an estimated
40,000 hectares of previously logged land is yet to be reforested.
Thus, a huge proportion of the
current gazetted forest land is bare.
- Reported by John Mbaria and
Michael Wairagu.
Link : http://www.nationaudio.com/News/EastAfrican/12112001/Regional/Regional6.html
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