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WRM BULLETIN 55 - February 2002
Kenya: Forest destruction for
the benefit of government cronies
Kenya's ecosystems are on the edge,
unable to continue providing water, plant materials and other
basic human needs to its burgeoning population. Forests remain on
less than two percent of Kenya's land, under protected status as a
national resource. In a country plagued by drought, the forests
are critical for water conservation. They are also home to
indigenous peoples that live by hunting game and gathering food
plants, herbs, and honey within the forests.
In a bid for votes, the Kenyan
government has rescinded protected status from 4 percent of the
remaining forests, claiming that the territory is needed to open
settlements for the country's many landless people. However, facts
tell quite another thing.
In Kitale, hundreds of squatters
vainly wait for the promised 7,234 acres of land hived off
Kitalale, Kapolet and Sikhendu forests. In official documents, the
squatters are already resettled, having benefited from a process
sanctioned by President Moi in a public directive in 1999. But
instead of hundreds of huts, magnificent residential homes and
well-tended plots dot the once public resource. Among
beneficiaries are the chief of a paramilitary unit, a Cabinet
minister, several MPs and members of an Ugandan repatriated clique.
The story is replicated in Nandi
District. Chepkumia, in South Nandi Forest, is a massive component
of Kenya's biodiversity, once part of the Mau Forest. About 2,891
hectares were hived off to resettle 200 families that were forced
to move from the neighbouring Koibem forest, by an excision
sanctioned in 1999. But instead of resettling them on the entire
area, the displaced were distributed on small parcels while the
rest of the land was grabbed by well-connected individuals. A
coalition of environmental organisations called the Kenya Forests
Working Group warns that degradation of the Mau Forest will
significantly reduce the ability of the forest ecosystem to cope
with drought and will have a devastating impact on water quality
and level in Ramsar protected Lake Nakuru, home to the world's
largest concentration of flamingoes and Kenya's second most
visited tourist site.
Also the survival of the Ogiek
people depends on their continued access to the mountainous Mau
Forests, where they have lived as hunters and gatherers from time
immemorial, managing the forest sustainably, despite attempts from
several governments to evict them from the forest. The pastoral
Maasai, who graze their animals in the Mau Forest during the dry
seasons, will also be affected.
Kaptagat Forest, in Keiyo, has been
irreversibly destroyed. The canopy of trees that is seen to dot
the Eldama Ravine Road is a mere facade. Sawmillers have located
their illegal operations along major roads and operate in broad
daylight. "Most of the land meant for squatters went to
powerful people. The landless, who initially supported the
excision, have now realised they were cheated," says Mr Nixon
Sifuna, an environmental lawyer who went to court last year to
stop alienation of 67,000 hectares of forests and teaches
environmental law at Moi University, Eldoret.
Investigations reveal that
well-connected grabbers, loggers and charcoal burners have reduced
key forests --among them Kaptagat and Kapsaret-- to mere patches
of trees. Two former Environment Ministers are extensively named
as owners of sawmills located deep inside Kapsaret Forest, a few
kilometres from Eldoret town.
"It is carpet-cutting of trees,"
says Mr Daniel Simotwo, an environmental activist who also went to
court to stop the excisions. "The destruction (of Kapsaret)
is massive; done by loggers." The loggers use Mafia-like
operations to terrorise critics. A person was reportedly killed a
few months ago during an operation by police to arrest a
well-known sawmiller.
Kenyan environmental organisations,
the indigenous Ogiek and Global Response, have raised an
international outcry against the logging and colonisation scheme,
inviting to send letters to urge the Kenyan government to revoke
the forest excisions announced on October 19, 2001. (See action
alert at: http://www.wrm.org.uy/alerts/february02.html
).
Article based on information from:
"Kenya's Ecosystems on the Edge", 01/25/02, Forest
Conservation News Today, http://forests.org
, sent by Glen Barry, e-mail: gbarry@forests.org
; "About 167,000 hectares nationally have been allocated to
big shots", Ken Opala, January 22, 2002.
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