Mau Forest Politics
The Mau Forest is Kenya's largest remaining indigenous forest. It is also the largest of our five water catchment areas with the other four being Cherangani Hills, Mt Elgon, Mt Kenya and Aberdares Range. Mau Forest is a catchment area for Lake Victoria and the White Nile river. It covers a number of counties in the country including Nakuru, Bomet, Kericho and Narok.
Th destruction of the Mau has affected the country in several ways. We have witnessed the flow of rivers being affected resulting in poor transmission of water for irrigation purposes, erratic weather patterns, and flash floods with towns such as Narok bearing the brunt of it.
The Mau forest issue has been shrouded in alot of politics with one section of the community claiming to have been issued with title deeds to settle in parts of the forest while others oppose their occupation of the forest land and support their eviction.
Mau forest is a critical ecosystem not only for this country but also several other neighbouring countries going as far as Egypt and therefore it should not be turned into a political tool. The sad part is that if this continues untamed, it may degenerate into an ethnic conflict which will leave more damage than good. Politicians from the Maasai community and those from the Kalenjin community have differed sharply and publicly on how the matter of evicting the illegal settlers in the forest should be conducted. One area they seem not to discuss or focus on is the environmental significance of this catchment zone.
Corrupt officers in the government and land offices are said to have illegally sold and allocated title deeds for land inside the Mau Forest and what has led to the political jitters and undertones is whether or not these settlers should be compensated.
There is need for the focus to mainly look at the issue from an environmental and conservation angle. Those living inside the forest should vacate and lost forest cover be restored. Boundaries should be created and anyone found in future to be encroaching on restricted areas should be prosecuted.
Illegal activities in the forest like charcoal burning, illegal logging, deforestation, and farming activities inside the forest must be forbidden. It is necessary for the local communties to be sensitized on the importance of the forest and need to conserve the ecosystem and they be encouraged to coexist harmoniusly with the forest without damaging the resource. Tree planting will help in replenishing the forest cover which is currently estimated to stand at 6%, which is below the internationally recommended 10%. My plea to the politicians would be for them to take matters of environmental conservation with the priority they deserve and keep politics out of it.
Th destruction of the Mau has affected the country in several ways. We have witnessed the flow of rivers being affected resulting in poor transmission of water for irrigation purposes, erratic weather patterns, and flash floods with towns such as Narok bearing the brunt of it.
The Mau forest issue has been shrouded in alot of politics with one section of the community claiming to have been issued with title deeds to settle in parts of the forest while others oppose their occupation of the forest land and support their eviction.
Mau forest is a critical ecosystem not only for this country but also several other neighbouring countries going as far as Egypt and therefore it should not be turned into a political tool. The sad part is that if this continues untamed, it may degenerate into an ethnic conflict which will leave more damage than good. Politicians from the Maasai community and those from the Kalenjin community have differed sharply and publicly on how the matter of evicting the illegal settlers in the forest should be conducted. One area they seem not to discuss or focus on is the environmental significance of this catchment zone.
Corrupt officers in the government and land offices are said to have illegally sold and allocated title deeds for land inside the Mau Forest and what has led to the political jitters and undertones is whether or not these settlers should be compensated.
There is need for the focus to mainly look at the issue from an environmental and conservation angle. Those living inside the forest should vacate and lost forest cover be restored. Boundaries should be created and anyone found in future to be encroaching on restricted areas should be prosecuted.
Illegal activities in the forest like charcoal burning, illegal logging, deforestation, and farming activities inside the forest must be forbidden. It is necessary for the local communties to be sensitized on the importance of the forest and need to conserve the ecosystem and they be encouraged to coexist harmoniusly with the forest without damaging the resource. Tree planting will help in replenishing the forest cover which is currently estimated to stand at 6%, which is below the internationally recommended 10%. My plea to the politicians would be for them to take matters of environmental conservation with the priority they deserve and keep politics out of it.
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