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DAM-L De-forestation in Kenya causing dams to silt up/LS (fwd)
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Date: Mon, 12 Nov 2001 13:34:32 -0800
To: irn-safrica@netvista.net
From: Lori Pottinger <lori@irn.org>
Subject: De-forestation in Kenya causing dams to silt up/LS
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Country 'In Grave Danger' Over Forest Excisions
The East African (Nairobi)
November 5, 2001
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.
Ryan Hoover
Africa Campaigns
International Rivers Network
1847 Berkeley Way
Berkeley, CA 94703
USA
Phone: (510) 848-1155 Fax: (510) 848-1008
www.irn.org
--
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Lori Pottinger, Director, Southern Africa Program,
and Editor, World Rivers Review
International Rivers Network <'})))>><
1847 Berkeley Way, Berkeley, California 94703, USA
Tel. (510) 848 1155 Fax (510) 848 1008
http://www.irn.org
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