Greens dismayed at forest excision plan

The livelihoods - and perhaps even the lives - of many Kenyans are threatened by a government plan to excise, or remove, over 167,000 acres of the country’s forests, according to protesting environmental campaigners.

The forests targeted for the chop are Mau, Nakuru, Nabkoi, Mt Kenya, Marmanet, North Tinderet, Mt Londiani, South Nandi, Molo and Kapsaret in the country's Rift Valley.

The plan to cut into swathes of these forests was first announced on 16 February by the then Minister for Environment and Natural Resources, Francis Nyenze, who gave 28 days notice of the intention to set aside about 10 percent of the forests in the government's Kenya Gazette, stating that the land would be given to [landless] squatters.

"I am only formalising what is on the ground and this land has been settled on for many years," the Daily Nation newsopaper of 24 February quoted him as saying. "What I have done is to publish a gazette notice so that people can raise their objections on whether those settled on the excised forests can continue living there," Nyenze added.

The minister also said the move was aimed at "protecting the forests from further encroachment by helping create clearly defined boundaries", yet the excision was opposed by many Kenyans from all walks of life, not least environmentalists.

The government then remained tight-lipped over the issue until October, when the present Minister for Environment and Natural Resources, Noah Katana Ngala, announced the government's intention to implement the plan.

The decision prompted front-line environmentalists to go to the country’s High Court to restrain Ngala from proceeding with the excisions, some of which have reportedly started.

Led by the Green Belt coordinator, Prof Wangari Maathai, Kenyan environmentalists have poured scorn on the government for failing to protect the environment despite hosting the headquarters of the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP), which has recently expressed concern at the alarming rate of forest clearances worldwide.

In hosting UNEP, Kenya is the repository of relevant international treaties on forest protection, which it has itself signed, according to environmental activists.

In November last year, a UNEP spokesman told IRIN that there was an urgent need "for a proper conservation of the indigenous forest, better management of forest plantations, and a more environmentally friendly energy policy".

"Despite their importance, forests across many parts of the globe and in particular in developing countries continue to be felled and cleared at an alarming rate," said UNEP Executive Director Klaus Toepfer, in a statement issued in Nairobi in advance of a meeting in Canada last week of parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity. [http://www.unep.org/]

"Conserving and sustainably using these invaluable ecosystems is a major goal of the Convention's work programme," said Convention official Hamdallah Zedan. "Research is still needed, but it is now time to accelerate concrete action to preserve the world's forests," he added.

The meeting in Montreal will consider the current status of forest biodiversity and major trends and threats; identify solutions that could be implemented locally, nationally, or globally; and address the need for the Convention's current forests work programme to expand from research to practical action.

"The [Kenyan] government move will be in breach of the public trust to conserve and protect the environment," according to Maathai. Kenya’s forests provide a critical catchment of the country’s river systems and ground-water formation, she added.

"Kenya’s supply of power, water and timber is under serious threat if the government goes ahead with its plan," said Michael Gachanja, coordinator of the Kenya Forests Working Group (KFWG) with the East African Wildlife Society. He has been asking Kenyans to sign a petition to stop the government from going ahead with its plan.

"No forests, no trees. No trees, no water. No water, no power, no industry. No industry, no jobs. No jobs, no money. No money, no food," a catchy advertisement placed by KFWG in the Daily Nation newspaper this week warned Kenyans.

"The government is determined to push on with the excisions despite the opposition from various quarters," Gachanja told IRIN. "We will not relent in our opposition, because we feel that the move will have a deleterious effect of the country’s environment and impinge on the lives of many people," he asserted.

Kenya’s forests are rapidly declining due to pressure from increased population and other land uses. With most of the country being arid and semi-arid, there is a lot of strain on the rest of the land, since the economy is based largely on natural resource use. The productive area which forms about 20 percent of the country’s area falls in the medium and high potential agro-ecological zones and is under agriculture, forest and nature reserves.

According to the UN Food And Agricultural Organisation's Forest Resource Assessment 1990, Kenya has "low forest cover", of less than 2 percent of the total land area. The diminution of forest cover has a severe effect on the climate, wildlife, water and human population, especially forest dwellers and users, it said.

Experts say that Kenya's territory needs a minimum of 10 per cent forest cover, but even as matters stand now, the country has 2 per cent, perhaps even less.

However, a report published by the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) last year stressed that their importance in the regulation of climate, water catchments and biodiversity was disproportionate to their percentage of territory.

Kenyans "cannot afford to watch the remaining natural forests being destroyed", the anthropologist and former head of the civil service, Richard Leakey, warned in that report. "The forests are a national asset that must be protected."

Forest excisions in Kenya are not a new phenomenon. They have been taking place every year since 1963, when the country attained its independence, with the exception of 1964, 1984, 1990 and 1996. These past excisions have been undertaken with the stated intention of creating space for settlements, farming, institutions, national parks, research, urban development and public amenities.

What is unprecedented about this year’s proposed excisions is that they are poised to sweep away a vast swathe of forests in one fell blow.

In response to the latest proposed excisions, the East Africa Wildlife Society intends to initiate a tree-planting campaign in the capital, Nairobi, and its environs.

Enock Kanyanya, a project officer at EAWLS, told IRIN that Kenyans would be asked to "adopt" a tree and plant it in an area of their choice or at a pre-selected site. The campaign is being spearheaded by the Kenya Forests Working Group.

"Our goal is to eventually increase national forest cover by encouraging Kenyans to plant more trees," Kanyanya added.