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Kenya: Forest degradation and
the way ahead for conservation efforts
W R M B U L L E T I N
58 MAY 2002
Environmental degradation seems to
have taken a sad toll in Kenya. As many as 12 people were killed
in a landslide at Kanyakine, Meru Central District, where
deforestation has laid bare hill slopes where trees used to
perform the function of holding the soil together. That and other
concerns related to environmental degradation has put conservation
of forests as one of today's hottest items on the national agenda.
Deforestation has been so intense that some people believe that
the estimate that only 10 per cent of Kenya's original forest
cover remains, is optimistic.
Parallel to this, General Peter
Ikenye has been appointed to deal with forest conservation, in
what may appear to be a move to appease public concerns. He will
have to deal, on the one hand, with the strong clique involved
with legal and illegal logging which has led Kenyan forest to
depletion, and on the other hand with hundreds of thousands of
displaced forest peoples as well as squatters, settlers and
landless people who have been forced into the forest out of very
poor living conditions.
However, the greatest
stumbling block to forest conservation appears to be the lack of
political will to save the Kenyan forest and the simple
explanation is that the most powerful peoples in this country are
also the biggest enemies of its woodland (see WRM Bulletin 55).
Within that context, the Kenyan
government will have to identify new mechanisms to protect forests
--if it has the political will to do so. Those new mechanisms will
necessarily entail some type of symbiotic relationship between
forests and neighbouring communities and examples on sustainable
management of forests by local communities certainly exist: among
others, the Ogiek people can provide a very good example on this.
At the same time, many forest areas
need to be restored and in this sense a local journalist points at
the right direction by saying that "there is no point in
filling our country exclusively with exotic trees", while
calling on Environment minister Joseph Kamotho to lead the nation
in establishing nurseries of indigenous trees and planting them.
The question is: will the Kenyan government apply the prevailing
large-scale monoculture alien tree plantation scheme so strongly
advocated by corporate economic interests? Or will it take a bold
action and promote a genuine reforestation programme with native
trees in partnership with local communities?
Article based on information from:
"Can Our Forests Breathe At Last?",
Mutuma Mathiu, The Nation
(Nairobi), May 5, 2002;
Project Report, Community Awareness
on Indigenous Forests and Their Value; The Mau Forest Project,
Forest Action Network (FAN), http://www.ftpp.or.ke/docs/mauproj.doc
WORLD RAINFOREST MOVEMENT
MOVIMIENTO MUNDIAL POR LOS BOSQUES International Secretariat
Maldonado 1858, CP 11200 Montevideo Uruguay Ph +598 2 413 2989 Fax
+598 2 418 0762
E-mail: wrm@wrm.org.uy
Web page: http://www.wrm.org.uy
Editor: Ricardo Carrere
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