Act now to save the dying forests

THE destruction of Kenya’s forests is now well documented. For decades, Kenya’s forest cover has been diminishing by the day and with it vanished the abundant flora and fauna. The net loss and its catastrophic impact on the country will take years to fully comprehend.
However, it is now evident that the factors behind this callous and wanton destruction of the country’s forestland are clear. It is insatiable greed by the country’s ruling elite that led to unprecedented grabbing of forestland for all manner of ‘ghost’ projects and illegal logging that are largely blamed for the diminishing forests.
The demand for energy, population pressure and grinding poverty among the rural poor seeking horizontal expansion of land for cultivation, poor farming practices particularly in fragile ecosystems also significantly contributed to the accelerated degradation of the environment. This was further compounded by unplanned urbanization with cities such as Nairobi , Eldoret and Kakamega encroaching into some of the country’s remaining forest reserves.
Another well-documented fact that bears testimony to the destruction of Kenya’s forestland is the short term and long term impact on the country’s economy. Persistent drought has led to severe food shortages and hence mass starvation in fragile ecosystems like Turkana and now Baringo districts.
The country has been on a permanent UN list for food aid . Overall agricultural production has been declining due to changing and unpredictable weather patterns partly due to this forest depletion. Rivers that flowed throughout the year and were classified as permanent have dried up and are now seasonal features.
For a nation that depends on agriculture to feed its population as well as the number one employer and foreign exchange earner, protection of the environment should be top priority. It is a matter of survival. But unfortunately this has not been the case.
Despite the well-documented deplorable state of Kenya’s forestland and the well-intentioned official pronouncements on the need to protect, manage and sustain our environment, the destruction of our forestland has continued unabated.
The need to halt this senseless destruction of our forest has never been more urgent. This is why we are cautiously optimistic that Kenya’s political transition that ushered in a new leadership will move from mere rhetoric on the virtues of forest conservation to action . Already, we have seen some positive steps being taken to reposes illegally acquired land . But the government needs to move with utmost speed and urgency and develop new and innovative ways of protecting and restoring our forestland.
One of the suggestions we would like to put to the new team at the environment ministry is to study and possibly apply biotechnology to quickly replenish our forest cover. Trees take long to mature, but through biotechnology scientists elsewhere have been able to significantly reduce the maturity period of some tree species. It would therefore be important for the government to undertake a study through the Kenya Forestry Research Institute (KEFRI) in collaboration with such international bodies like the Nairobi based International Centre for Research in Agro - Forestry (ICRAF) to come up with species of trees that can be used to quickly replenish our dying forests.
The previous regime in Kenya was very good in developing policy papers and articulating them in international foray. But when it came to implementation, it scored zero.
We hope under the new leadership in Nairobi, the host of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), will move away from mere policy development to action. This is what Kenya’s forest requires now. ACTION