Eco Envision

According to information provided by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) on the World Environment Day website, a dryland is an area of low rainfall and high evaporation.

In many ways, the ills of North Eastern Province are typical of problems that confront drylands elsewhere, not least concerning the lack of roads and other types of infrastructure - and inadequate services, such as those relating to health and education.

A 2004 report by the East African office of the Society for International Development (SID), a non-governmental organisation (NGO) headquartered in Rome, notes that there is one doctor for every 120,000 people in the North Eastern Province, compared to one per 20,000 in the Central Province. (The document is titled 'Pulling Apart: Striking Facts and Figures on Inequality in Kenya'.)

According to the most recent census, conducted in 1999, the North Eastern Province is home to over 960,000 people.

The SID study also says that just one in three children in the North Eastern Province attends primary school, even while there is universal primary school attendance in the Central Province.

Observes UNEP, "People living in drylands, 90 percent of whom live in developing countries, lag far behind the rest of the world in human well-being and development indicators."

"Drylands remain impoverished because poor people living in drylands, especially women, seldom have a strong political voice and often lack essential services, such as health care, agricultural extension and education..." the agency adds.

Livestock production is the primary source of livelihood in the NEP: statistics from the National Environmental Management Authority (NEMA) indicate that over 90 percent of household income is derived from livestock.

However, food and water for cattle and other animals are limited. This has sparked ongoing conflict over resources among pastoralist communities in the area, where clashes force people to flee their homes. Last July, about 90 people were killed during inter-clan violence in Marsabit.

The large numbers of livestock have also had a negative effect on the environment, already degraded.

"There is a need to ensure awareness on the ground about the importance of keeping...animals that can be sustained by the ecosystem," says Betty Nzioka, acting director of the Environmental Information and Public Participation department at NEMA.

"There is a need to have these people keep quality animals, not just be concerned about numbers."

UNEP claims that, globally, up to 20 percent of drylands are degraded, with this problem at its worst in developing nations.

Wambugu Wamahiu of the Greenbelt Movement, an environmental NGO based in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, believes awareness of this problem can be raised through education campaigns that take dryland inhabitants "out of their old thinking that livestock numbers tell it all."

"They should know that by having too many livestock, they are not doing themselves any good. These animals have been running all over the place and destroying the little vegetation left, loosening the soil such that when it rains, all the soil is eroded," he adds.

As sound as the reasoning of Wamahiu and others might be, however, it has yet to convince some in the North Eastern Province that reducing livestock numbers is at the top of the agenda for improving their lives.

"The government must first and foremost provide water in order to ensure our well being. Women have to walk miles and miles just to get water," Hubbie Hussein Al-Haji of Womankind Kenya, a development organisation in the area, told IPS.

Authorities claim that initiatives to increase water points are already underway.

"The government has drilled 200 boreholes this year and constructed 300 dams and pans for water supply and storage. The government is also revitalising irrigation and drainage development in various parts of the country," President Mwai Kibaki said in a public address, Jun. 1.

But residents of dry areas - the NEP included - who took part in an interactive live broadcast by a local television station on the same day seemed unaware of such projects - or other official development initiatives.

Several years of drought in the north and east have also made difficult living conditions worse, causing large numbers of people to become dependent on food aid. The United Nations World Food Programme has called for funds to feed up to 3.5 million people until February next year.

If day-to-day human needs and activities act to the detriment of drylands, extraordinary pressures can prove devastating. Take the case of the Ifo, Dagahaley and Hagadera refugee camps that were established around the town of Dadaab in North Eastern Province (and which are also referred to as the Dadaab camps).

The camps have a population of about 130,000 - mostly Somalis who fled violence in their country - and have been in existence for approximately 15 years.

"All these people have to depend on (wood for) fuel...They have harvested the indigenous trees to get fuel for use in the camps. This has completely damaged the ecosystem of the whole place," says Nzioka.

A study by NEMA shows that poverty has also pushed Kenyan locals into unsustainable use of the area's trees, which are used to produce charcoal or firewood for sale.

About 30 percent of Kenya's population occupies drylands, which make up close to 90 percent of the East African country's land, according to NEMA.

Kenya has adopted "Drylands Our Livelihood, Let's Save Them" as the national slogan for this year's World Environment Day. Globally, the slogan "Don't Desert Drylands" is being used.

According to the World Environment Day website, more than two billion people (one third of the global population) live in drylands, which account for 41 per cent of all land area.

Events on Jun. 5 form part of a broader effort to raise awareness of the fragility of dry regions: the United Nations General Assembly has also declared 2006 the 'International Year of Deserts and Desertification'.

Environmental degradation seems to have taken a sad toll in Kenya. As many as 12 people were killed in a landslide at Kanyakine, Meru Central District, where deforestation has laid bare hill slopes where trees used to perform the function of holding the soil together. That and other concerns related to environmental degradation has put conservation of forests as one of today's hottest items on the national agenda. Deforestation has been so intense that some people believe that the estimate that only 10 per cent of Kenya's original forest cover remains, is optimistic.
Parallel to this, General Peter Ikenye has been appointed to deal with forest conservation, in what may appear to be a move to appease public concerns. He will have to deal, on the one hand, with the strong clique involved with legal and illegal logging which has led Kenyan forest to depletion, and on the other hand with hundreds of thousands of displaced forest peoples as well as squatters, settlers and landless people who have been forced into the forest out of very poor living conditions.
However, the greatest stumbling block to forest conservation appears to be the lack of political will to save the Kenyan forest and the simple explanation is that the most powerful peoples in this country are also the biggest enemies of its woodland.
Within that context, the Kenyan government will have to identify new mechanisms to protect forests --if it has the political will to do so. Those new mechanisms will necessarily entail some type of symbiotic relationship between forests and neighbouring communities and examples on sustainable management of forests by local communities certainly exist: among others, the Ogiek people can provide a very good example on this.
At the same time, many forest areas need to be restored and in this sense a local journalist points at the right direction by saying that "there is no point in filling our country exclusively with exotic trees", while calling on Environment minister Joseph Kamotho to lead the nation in establishing nurseries of indigenous trees and planting them. The question is: will the Kenyan government apply the prevailing large-scale monoculture alien tree plantation scheme so strongly advocated by corporate economic interests? Or will it take a bold action and promote a genuine reforestation programme with native trees in partnership with local communities?

With climate change across the globe threatening survival of present and future generations, shift to use of renewable energy is gaining popularity.
Kenya imports energy in the form of oil and oil products. Most of this oil is used for transport but some is used for domestic and industrial purposes such as water pumping, home lighting, cooking and electricity generation.
Oil use adds the harmful carbon dioxide emissions to the air causing a change in the world climates.
Experts across the world concur that it is desirable to reduce the output of carbon dioxide, which comes from burning the fossil fuels oil and coal.
The only way to do this is to develop the renewable energy sources: wind, sun, tidal and hydro.
Luckily Kenya is on the path to a complete turn around. Stakeholders are in an aggressive path to curb further environmental degradation by adopting generation and use renewable energy.
Prime Minister Raila Odinga last week appointed a National taskforce on accelerated development of green energy.
Expected to submit report by end of August this year, the taskforce is mandated to outline how too significantly reduce cost of energy and install additional power generation capacity of 2000MW by June 2012.
Key targets include modalities to construct and commission accelerated Green Energy program through geothermal power plants, wind and solar power projects, bio fuel, carbon free power facilities by large power users.
It will also focus on biomass, solid waste and other recycled power generation facilities.
It will also recommend a package on plants to produce energy saving bulbs and other devices and conversion from conventional energy sources to energy saving ones by public institutions, homes and private enterprises.
Task force
“The taskforce shall identify and recommend a package that will assist with mobilization of technical and financial resources for the implementation of green energy programmes and projects, including public private partnerships,” the gazette reads in part.
Solar energy generation has been on the rise in the past few years and the Government’s step to set up solid mechanisms to change Kenya’s over reliance on non-renewable is timely.
With Kenya located on the equator, argue experts, solar energy devices are cheap to produce. It is also easy to use and require little maintenance.
It is only during the rainy season (mainly March to September) that there may not always be enough sunlight to operate solar devices but generally, sun shines across the year in most parts of the country.
A majority of Kenyans in rural areas are yet to access electricity hence solar energy can be of help.
Last year, the government launched a blue print for promoting Kenya’s renewable energy with a strategy to also conserve non-renewable energy sources.
Launched by a group of parastatals the Kenya Energy Sector Environment Program (KEEP) aims to promote efficient energy use and environmental conservation.
Kenya’s high cost of kerosene has forced the poor to rely on charcoal, leading to deforestation in water catchments like Mau forest, Cherangani Hills and Aberdare ranges.
Currently more than 1,000 hectares of forest cover in Mau has been destroyed causing the ongoing hue and cry. The annual revenue loss from such destruction runs into tens of billions of shillings.
Forests
Recently, the Prime Minister, Raila Odinga said that the nation’s water catchment areas will be preserved despite the population pressure that is threatening to terminate them.
About 82 percent of urban households use charcoal, while wood fuel is the main source of energy in rural areas.
The charcoal industry employs more than 200,000 people and contributes over 32 billion shillings to the economy annually.
KenGen Managing Director, Eddy Njoroge, said the company would shift power generation from diesel to geothermal and hydropower. He says about 85 percent of the planned new capacity will come from clean geothermal and hydro renewable sources.
Sources of renewable Energy
There is a thermal power station at the Coast. The fuel for the thermal stations and some industrial processes should be replaced by renewable energy sources.
Potential
Kenya has four main sources of renewable energy including hydroelectric power, mainly on the Tana River; Biomass in the form of biogas and alcohol from agricultural by-products; Wind Power from the Kano Plains convection system in Nyanza Province and Solar Energy, especially in the cloud-free arid zone of northern Kenya.
Experts also see Coast area as a potential ground to reap wind energy.
According to a paper by one E.G. Matthews of Wimborne Energy Consultancy geothermal power generation of the Rift Valley has potential since its among the few sources of energy not derived from solar energy.
Biomass
Biomass, he argues, in the form of alcohol to be added to motor fuel as gasohol is growing and there is considerable potential for biogas, as yet unutilised.
“Solar power for electricity needs technological improvement in the equipment needed to convert sunlight to electricity, though solar water heating ought to be built into every new building. However, solar conversion of sunlight might well make Kenya a major supplier of energy in the future, probably in the form of hydrogen to replace oil products for transport,” he asserts.

Kenya is trying to lead the way. Besides the Turkana project, which is being backed by the African Development Bank, private investors have proposed establishing a second windfarm near Naivasha, the well-known tourist town. And in the Ngong hills near Nairobi, the Maasai herders and elite long-distance athletes used to braving the frigid winds along the escarpment already have towering company: six 50m turbines from the Danish company Vestas that were erected last month and will add 5.1MW to the national grid from August. Another dozen turbines will be added at the site in the next few years.
"Ultimately for Africa solar is the answer, although [costs mean] we may still be decades away," said Herman Oelsner, president of the African Wind Energy Association.

Bio fuel from Jatropha crops, biogas from municipal waste, wind power and solar cells are all on the agenda in Kenya. Climate change and other factors have caused rainfall to decrease, which again leads to a decline in hydropower that presently account for 60 percent of Kenya’s electricity supply.
“We are making a big bet on renewable energy so that we are always prepared, even when the rains fail,” Prime Minister Raila Odinga says according to Business Today.
A government task force is to identify green energy projects that can generate 2000 MW of electricity. The figure can be compared to the present installed capacity of 1296 MW. 80 percent of Kenyans live in rural areas with scarce access to electricity. For the country to develop, production needs to be raised.
As water levels in dams producing hydropower are at record lows, Kenya’s reserve margin for power production is non-existent and millions of consumers are experiencing rationing. Rainfall is expected to decrease further, partly due to climate change and partly due to illegal logging which brings down the capacity of soils to catch water.
The government, already faced with a budget deficit, urges foreign investments in the proposed green energy projects.

A section of Rift Valley province Kalenjin youths allied to the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM), have registered their discontent with a majority of the current crop of the area Members of Parliament over the Mau forest which has exposed Kenya to international focus, and singled out the Minister for Agriculture William Samoei Ruto for condemnation.

Addressing the press, the Kalenjin youths emphasized that they were in ODM by choice but not because of the fact that Ruto was the party´s deputy leader.

Led by Kiprono Rotich, they stated that Prime Minister Raila Odinga as the party leader, deserves absolute respect and if Ruto feels he cannot work with him, the best he can do is to quit the party.

Ruto is on record as saying that the government´s move over the Mau forest issue pertaining to eviction of its inhabitants was aimed at intimidating the Rift Valley Mp´s.

Ruto indicated that he was considering seeking shelter elsewhere owing to this move.

But in a strong rejoinder yesterday, the youths accused Ruto of allegedly working in tandem with some of his former political colleagues in Kanu-the former ruling party, to wreck ODM from within.

ODM is the party under which Raila Odinga vied for the presidency during the controversial and disputed elections in which President Kibaki- riding on the Party of Nartional Unity, was declared winner.

Voicing their concern over the necessity of conserving the Mau forest, the ODM Kalenjin youths emphasized that there should be no compromise over the issue.

"That the Mau conservation is not negotiable since it affects, and has indeed affected the livelihoods of thousands of people and wildlife, is a matter of national importance and as such, it should not be treated as minor by people out to hold the ODM party at ransom", Rotich who spoke on behalf of the youths stressed.

Rotich said: "those shouting the loudest against the Mau conservation, own huge chunks of land which they acquired illegally there and should therefore not antagonize the government´s efforts to compensate the poor."

He added that the Mau saga should be a revolution against those with ill-gotten wealth that accrued from the Kanu regime, warning that they risk losing everything should they continue to shield the rich in the name of leadership.

The beneficiaries of the Mau complex, he pointed out, are former power brokers and influential individuals during the past Moi regime and should not hide behind the poor to get compensation for a piece of land they acquired for free, and indeed illegally.

Hon Raila Odinga, the youths explained, means good for the Kalenjin community and consequently, Ruto and his ilk should not portray otherwise for their own self-aggrandizement.

"We are aware that Ruto is working with ODM detractors in the hope of convincing our youths yet again,to join tribal outfits dubbed "K.K" for their own selfish needs", charged Rotich.
"Ruto and his brigade of Mau beneficiaries should either shut up or ship out of ODM to join a party of their choice since in ODM, democracy was thriving under the able and focused leadership of Hon Raila Odinga, our prime minister", the youths indicated.

However, they supported the compensation of poor farmers who bought land innocently from Rift Valley power barons -a fact which the Prime minister acknowledged.

The youths described Ruto as a trouble maker in ODM and a "known distorter of facts" due to his propensity of being a selfish individual.

Other youths who accompanied Rotich during the press briefing were: Daniel Sang, Sammy Kipkemboi, Sosten Kipkoech and Dinah Chepkemboi, among others.

The youths further welcomed the move by the Prime minister Raila Odinga of tabling a list in Parliament that revealed that the beneficiaries of the Mau forest were rich and politically-connected individuals.

They chided the Rift Valley Mps for rushing to seek an audience with President Mwai Kibaki after realizing that they had been defeated and outshone by the Prime Minister over the Mau saga.

The youths accused the Rift Valley lawmakers of seeking favours from President Kibaki over the issue, since they had been long used to the politics of sycophancy during the corrupt rule of retired President Daniel arap Moi.

These legislators should not think they can use 18th century tactics to win a 21st century battle, said the youths.

They advised the Mps to realize that the conservation of Mau was not within the domain of President Kibaki "but it was the cry of the nation".

They should not rush to the President like small children who need food. The Mau issue is not something to joke with! the youths thundered.

At the same time, the youths asked President Kibaki not to use the Mau saga in playing succession politics since tribal alliances belong to history.

During their meeting with President Kibaki, the Head of State assured the Rift Valley lawmakers that the Kenya government would look into the compensation of those who had settled in Mau after eviction.

The Rift Valley legislators who belong to Moi´s Kalenjin tribe, overwhelmingly voted for Raila Odinga during the last elections in the face of the mood for change then prevailing in Kenya.

But they have disagreed with the Prime Minister over the Mau forest issue simply because of the fact that they expropriated huge tracts of land from the forest, their relatives and friends in a corrupt move allegedly made possible for them by the past Moi administration.

Welcome to Ecoenvision.

The Maasai Mau Forest covers 46,278 hectares, and is located some 17 kilometers north of Narok Town, near the world famous Maasai Mara National Reserve. It is part of the larger Mau Forest Complex, Kenya’s largest forest block and East Africa’s largest single block of closed canopy indigenous forest.
Once pristine, Maasai Mau has become the target of unfortunate land allocations, which have resulted in massive destruction. By February 2005, when an aerial survey was conducted resulting in the publication of the Maasai Mau Forest Status Report, the western part was heavily destroyed. At that time, the forest was being actively cleared with smoke billowing above the forest canopy.
In 2005, the government took action against further destruction of the forest, evicting nearly 10,000 people from the affected area. The controversial evictions, reported to be unnecessarily brutal, resulted in a court case instituted against the government that now stops it from taking further action, including further action against people who are returning to the forest and carving out new plots.
A visit in September 2007 by the KFWG and journalists from the Kenya Broadcasting Corporation recorded intensive farming, timber sawing and charcoal burning. Those interviewed said they had bought the land and will not leave unless the Government compensates them and offers alternative land.
The illegal sale of the forest land by unscrupulous persons is the genesis of the problem. While most of the forests in the Mau Forest Complex have been gazetted and are managed by the Kenya Forest Service (former Forest Department), the Maasai Mau Forest is Trust Land, managed by the County Council of Narok (NCC), which also manages the Maasai Mara National Reserve. In 1999, the Council gave consent to surrounding group ranches (owned communally) to be subdivided and sold to members. After consent was issued, government officers, politicians, private surveyors and influential people increased the sizes of the group ranches far in excess of their registered areas. The additional land in the forest was then sold to unsuspecting outsiders who had no information about the forest. Most of them say they sold their farms at their original homes and used the money to buy land in the forest.
The government had agreed to offer alternative land to people who had title deeds to their forest plots. That exercise never took place. Further promises have been made by a variety of politicians and officials.
Now deeply suspicious of these promises, the evictees would rather stay put in the forest, unless a solution is provided. Meanwhile, the forest continues to suffer.

Eastern and South West Mau forest reserves are the largest forest blocks of the Mau Forest Complex.
These two forests are critical catchment areas for Lake Nakuru, a globally important wetlands enlisted as a Ramsar Site, and for the Sondu River where the Sondu Miriu Hydro-Power Plant is being built to increase the country capacity by 60 MW.
Despite their importance, the forests of the Mau Complex have been heavily impacted by official forest excisions, in particular in 2001, as well as by illegal, irregular and unplanned settlements.  The forest blocks most affected by the 2001 excisions are Eastern Mau Forest Reserve and South West Mau Forest Reserve where 35,301 ha and 22,797 ha respectively were excised representing 54.3 % and 27.3 % of their total area.
In line with the new Government’s policy to increase Kenya’s forest cover and to protect and rehabilitate catchment areas, the United Nations Environment Programme and the Kenya Forests Working Group decided to assess the current situation in these two forest blocks in order to advise the Government on possible options to recover critical forested catchment areas.
With funding from the European Union’s Biodiversity Conservation Programme and technical support from the Department of Resource Surveys and Remote Sensing, the assessment took place from December 2005 to May 2006.
The main findings of the assessment are reflected in this presentation.  They highlight options for the Government to recover critical forested catchments.