Illegal Logging Endangers Kenya Forest
11/15/99
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Title: Illegal Logging Endangers KENYA Forest
Source: Environment News Network, http://www.ens.lycos.com/
Status: Copyright 1999, contact source for permission to reprint
Date: November 15, 1999
NAIROBI, Kenya, November 15, 1999 (ENS) - Western environmental
groups are alarmed by a report from the Kenya Wildlife Service that
over 90 percent of Mount Kenya's forest canopy has been wiped out,
reported The Nation, Kenya's daily newspaper.
The Kenya Wildlife Service study revealed that the tree cover is
being devastated by illegal logging for marijuana cultivation and
agricultural encroachment. Nearly 15,000 trees have been felled, some
of which can take up to 400 years to reach full height.
Friends of Conservation in London said it would be "catastrophic" if
the illegal logging is allowed to continue.
Mass logging in the 32,000-acre area of Mt. Kenya could pose
severe environmental and economic consequences for Kenya.
One of the country's five major water catchment areas, Mount
Kenya provides water for irrigation, hydroelectric power and
domestic use for much of northeast and eastern Kenya.
The forest attracts heavy rainfall in a largely arid region and
stores water, releasing it gradually into streams and rivers to
ensure a year-round supply.
Indigenous forest covers only about two percent of Kenya's land area,
but it is being destroyed at the rate of about 20,000 acres a year.