Nature destroys those who disrespect it

The gradual degradation of Kenya’s Mau Forest Complex has been attributed to decades of mismanagement, compounded by irresponsible and corrupt practices by the very people who were expected to protect it.

Besides encroachment to establish monocultures of eucalyptus and cedar trees — the shamba system — there was uncontrolled expansion of human settlements and cultivation of food crops, charcoal production and grazing of livestock. Politicians’ friends and supporters were often rewarded with chunks of forest land.

These destructive practices greatly reduced the forest cover and the “environmental services” it renders us, which we take for granted.

Such services include control of rainfall patterns, conservation of rainwater in underground water reservoirs and wetlands, conserving biodiversity, controlling water flow and therefore soil conservation and serving as a carbon sink and thereby reducing atmospheric carbon dioxide.

Although climate change is blamed for the melting of ice and snow on Mt Kenya and Mt Kilimanjaro as well as the drying up of wetlands, it is quite possible that a greater contributor is the long-term destruction of indigenous forests.

Life is unsustainable in East Africa without these environmental services from forests.

When forests are degraded, rainfall patterns and micro-climates change, volumes of water in rivers are reduced and finally disappear, lakes recede, underground water levels go down, vegetation and crops fail and biodiversity gradually dies. Once life around us is threatened and begins to die, we should remember that we shall be the next in line.

Prolonged drought, failure of rainfall, drying up of rivers and wetlands, crop failure, famine and death are events that are regular occurrences in Nature.

What most countries do is to mitigate against them by protecting their watersheds and forests, harvesting rainwater, avoiding overgrazing and other desertification processes, planting trees, conserving the soil and building granaries and dams.

Some countries are also able to do away with leaders who misuse power and privilege to promote wanton destruction of the environment.

Nature does work with countries that respect it. But it also destroys those who disrespect and mismanage it.

Failure to manage our environment is the reason there are conflicts over land and water, hunger and death of livestock, wildlife and even humans.

These are all familiar signs of an environment that is gradually losing its capacity to sustain life.

It is extremely important therefore, that all stakeholders come together to save our forests, the largest of which is the Mau Forest Complex.

We also need to save wetlands and rivers.

If forests are included in the Copenhagen post-Kyoto protocol, East Africa stands to gain from the emerging carbon markets, an opportunity that should encourage us to protect our forests, especially the one that affects all East Africans: the Mau Forest Complex.

It is for this reason that the Green Belt Movement supports the eviction of settlers in the Mau Forest and has initiated the “Enough is Enough” campaign to reclaim grabbed forests, rivers and wetlands.

The first event is at Spring Valley, Westlands on Saturday, August 1, 2009.

East Africans should be particularly concerned about the Mau Forest Complex because at 400,000 hectares, it is the largest forest cover in East Africa and feeds major rivers such as the Nzoia, Yala and Mara.

The Mara river traverses the Maasai Mara and provides a lifeline for wildlife not only in the Mara but also in the Serengeti national park in Tanzania.

Other rivers arising from the forest are Sondu and Miriu, on which the Japanese government has built a hydropower plant.

There is also the Ewaso Nyiro, which feeds Lake Natron in Tanzania, where the flamingoes breed.

The waters from many of these rivers flow into lake Victoria, which feeds the Nile.

The Njoro River flows eastwards into Lake Nakuru, home of the flamingoes, while the Kerio river flows northwards into Lake Turkana.

Quite obviously, any negative impact from such a huge forest complex will affect not only the people of Kenya but East Africans in general. Indeed, also the people of Sudan and Egypt.

In East Africa alone, agriculture, tourism and the livelihoods of millions people around Lake Victoria and major national parks as well as people on both sides of the Central Rift depend on the positive climatic conditions provided by the Mau Forest Complex.

It is important to remind ourselves that forests are among the common resources that should be managed for the common good of all.

They should not be dished out as political gifts to friends and supporters.

Those who benefit from such corruption, mismanagement and misuse of power and public resources should not be rewarded with compensation.

This is because compensating people who were bribed sends the wrong message to the corrupt.

People should know that if the current government allocates public property illegally or irregularly, future governments will repossess that property without any compensation and even punish the corrupt for misusing their positions.

Citizens too should refuse to be misled by corrupt leaders who want to use their taxes to compensate those who benefited from corruption.

The message sent to leaders and the members of the public is that corruption, impunity and misuse of power do not pay.

Leaders must begin to believe that justice can catch up with them and demand accountability.