07 May 2017

Speakers at the commemoration of Africa Environment Day, now known as Wangari Maathai Day, have called for commitment towards saving the environment from further degradation and adverse effects of climate change.

Speaking at the commemoration recently, which was jointly organised by the Kenya High Commission in Gaborone and the University of Botswana (UB), Kenya’s minister of environment and natural resources, who was also the guest speaker, Prof. Judi Wakhungu said the challenge of environmental degradation due to diminished forest cover was real in most countries.

Africa Environment Day was renamed in honour of Kenyan Prof. Wangari Maathai by African Union in January 2012.

Prof. Maathai is internationally recognised for her persistent struggle for democracy, human rights and environmental conservation.

In 2004, the Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded the Nobel Peace Prize to Maathai for her contribution to sustainable development, democracy and peace.

Minister Wakhungu said 80 per cent of Kenya’s land cover was arid and semi-arid, with forests comprising seven per cent of the land cover, hence the need to take action as Prof Maathai advocated.

“Kenya’s land cover has similarities to Botswana which is dominated by the Kalahari Desert that covers up to 70 per cent of its land surface. In the 1990s to the early 2000s, Kenya had a serious challenge of forest degradation and deforestation largely due to weak legislation and political interference,” she said.

During this period,  she said Prof. Maathai, through her organisation, the Greenbelt Movement, played a pivotal role in advocating for the preservation of all forest resources from land grabbers.

“Karura Forest, the only indigenous forest within Nairobi metropolis, was in danger of being grabbed and allocated to private developers. Her efforts to save this particular forest were captured by the international media and years later would lead to her recognition through being awarded the prestigious Nobel Peace Prize,” he said.

Kenya, she said had come a long way since the days of rampant forest destruction, to where Kenya now stand at 7.22 per cent forest cover.

Such growth was supported through enactment of the Forest Act 2007, which had recently been replaced with the Forest Conservation and Management Act 2016.

“The legislation made tremendous improvements to safeguard forest resources. Forest adjacent communities, who are the custodians of these resources are now involved in their co-management with government.

Further, Prof. Wakhungu said climate change was increasingly a ‘security’ problem, and there had been speculation that climate change may increase the risk of violent conflicts.

“Climate change increasingly destabilises human security in the present day and will increasingly do so in the future by reducing access to, and the quality of, natural resources that are important to sustain livelihoods,” she said. ENDS