Kenyan greens criticise forest plans
Copyright 2001 Reuters
October 29, 2001
NAIROBI, Kenya (Reuters) -- A leading Kenyan environmental group has lambasted the government for its decision to cut down more than 170,000 acres of forest.
The Green Belt Movement advocacy group described the move on Monday as a politically motivated step that would damage the environment and economy.
The Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources published its intention to cut down the trees last February to loud criticism from environmentalists, who assembled a petition of 32,000 names and took the government to court.
Legal proceedings have made virtually no progress. One case was dismissed on technical grounds, while another has yet to be heard, after an important file was lost, said Wangari Maathai, head of the Green Belt Movement.
A second ministry announcement, published on Thursday, signalled the government's intention to push ahead with the excision plans despite opposition, Maathai told a news conference on Monday.
"It's a suicidal mission," she said. "To interfere with them (forests) is to interfere with the rain system, the water system and therefore agriculture, not to mention the other industries that are dependent on hydro-electricity."
Forests cover only around two percent of Kenya but provide vital moisture catchment for rivers, and so are crucial to sustaining an agricultural industry that supports much of the 28 million population.
The forests act like giant sponges, soaking up moisture during the rainy season then slowly releasing it to keep rivers flowing to towns, villages and coffee- and tea-growing areas.
British colonists and Kenyan farmers have chopped down three quarters of the country's forests in the last 150 years, experts estimate, making what remains all the more precious.
The government was not available for comment. It has said forest areas cleared of trees can be used to re-house squatters.
Maathai accused ministers of contravening a 1999 law which requires an environmental impact assessment to be completed before any trees can be cut down.
"The only reason the government is... pretending this law doesn't exist is because we have general elections next year," she said. "The only thing valuable to them are bribes, or to sell (the land) to finance their campaigns."
Opposition politicians say land is one of the only resources still available to the government to buy support ahead of general elections due next year.