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Africa News afrol News
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Africa News afrol News
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Misanet.com / IRIN, 3 November - Environmental organisations have warned that continued deforestation in Kenya will lead to severe consequences for the environment, affecting key production sectors if it proceeds at the current rate. Population growth is the underlying cause behind deforestation in Kenya, according to the Kenya Forestry Research Institute (KEFRI). It is a global phenomenon: 15 million hectares of forest are lost worldwide every year due to their clearing for agricultural reasons. In the 1980s, the Kenyan population grew at the rate of four percent a year, thereby putting pressure on rich forest lands favourable to crop cultivation. The widespread destruction of the Kenyan indigenous forest is due to "de-facto excisions", Christian Lambrechts, a member of the Kenya Forestry Working Group, told IRIN. This is as true of wooded areas in grasslands regions as it is of indigenous forest reserves. This phenomenon is believed to increase during election periods, according to a report published by the World Resources Institute (WRI). The report considers land excisions as "the result of an increased use of land for political patronage in the context of increased electoral competition". The lack of adequate control over forest reserves leads forestland to be Two phenomena are to be distinguished however, the excision of forestlands for agricultural reasons, and the degradation of forests for commercial reasons. Large-scale logging exists in Kenya today more than ever before, despite a presidential ban issued in 1986. Camphor and cedar trees in the indigenous forest surrounding Mount Kenya are particularly affected. It is excessively difficult to monitor the scale of deforestation in the country. The latest available figures, published in 1994 by the Kenya Forestry Master Plan, mention 5,000 hectares of forest excised on a yearly basis. Deforestation affects wooded areas in grasslands regions as well as close canopy forests. However the consequences of its destruction on the environment are far greater in the latter case.
In recent months, the destruction of forest has increased due to the ongoing drought in the country. Forest resources have been increasingly exploited as people have turned to alternative means of income by transforming wood into charcoal or selling it as timber. In the Mount Kenya forest reserve, 2,465 charcoal kilns were discovered by the Kenya Wildlife Service in an aerial survey in August 1999. The consequences of the depletion of Kenya's forest resources range from an increased risk of drought to damage to the economy. Close canopy forests have a crucial role as water catchments. If the forest is damaged, there will be increasing risks of flood during the rainy season and of drought during the dry season. This is particularly true as a consequence of deforestation in the mountainous regions of Mount Kenya, the Aberdare range, the Mau escarpment, Mount Elgon and the Cherangani hills. Alone, these amount to three-quarters of the total of indigenous forests in Kenya, and provide much of the nation's water, highlighting the forests' role as water catchments. "It is very likely that [the current] shortages of water and electricity in the city of Nairobi are related to the degradation of the forests of the Mount Kenya and Aberdare range," Christian Lambrechts said. The consequences may equally be felt on tea production in the region surrounding Mount Kenya and the Mau escarpment. Forests serve to reduce the gap of temperatures between night and day. The consequences are potentially huge for tea growers as temperatures at night risk falling below zero Celsius. The extensive destruction further manifests negative long-term impacts such as disrupting wildlife habitat and destroying biodiversity. In turn these would lead to impaired tourism development. While savannas are home to the more familiar wildlife species that attract tourists, forest ecosystems provide the habitat for a large proportion of the country's biological diversity. Tree planting has increased in farmland regions over the past years, a KEFRI spokesman told IRIN. Individual farms have been planting wood for their own needs, while bigger farms have planted wood for commercial purposes. However no study has yet been undertaken of the contribution made by agroforestry in alleviating pressure on indigenous forest reserves, Christian Lambrechts of the Kenya Forestry Working Group added. The danger posed by the destruction of Kenya's indigenous forests is great. A substantial proportion of the Kenyan population lives in the vicinity of forests, while these cover only two to three percent of Kenyan soil. In a report published by the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS), the head of the Civil Service and former KWS director, Richard Leakey, warned that although Kenya is best known as a land of arid or semi-arid habitats with little forest, it "cannot afford to watch the remaining natural forests being destroyed. The forests are a national asset that must be protected". Their importance in the regulation of climate, water catchments and biodiversity are disproportionate in comparison to their percentage of the territory. A spokesman for the UN Environmental Programme (UNEP) said the solution lies in recognising the environmental services rendered by ecosystems. He told IRIN there was a need "for a proper conservation of the indigenous forest, better management of forest plantations, and a more environmentally-friendly energy policy".
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