Away from the dangers the cruel factor of this scenario is that pesticides are a multi-billion profit driven industry, and the general public is not privy to this facet. In a thought provoking expose, in the year 2000 the “New Internationalist” noted:
“Agribusiness is a mindset, a way of thinking which dominates our current model of industrial agriculture and is inextricably linked to increased use of agro-chemicals. It is an approach to food production which sees the soil only as a source of profit and the earth as a resource to plunder. It dismisses pesticides poisonings as accidents and refuses to acknowledge the links between health and the environment and the increased use of pesticides. It sees agriculture only as business and farmers as business people rather than guardians of the land. The corporations which profit from the pesticide industry have a vested interest in keeping it alive – or in replacing it with one in which genetically modified crops reign supreme. That’s because pesticides make money.”
The fixation with synthetic pesticides is a debatable axis for an agricultural economy like Kenya, whose major foreign exchange earners are Tea, coffee and horticulture. The pesticide industry is indeed lucrative business. According to Kenya's trade ministry Kenya imports some $50 million worth of synthetic pesticides annually. Of these it exports approximately 63 metric tons of pesticides valued at US$ 700,000 to the neighbouring countries of Seychelles, Burundi, Uganda and Tanzania.
At the moment Kenya with its 50,000 tonnes of flowers is the largest flower exporter to the European Union, controlling a tidy 25% stake. For this Kenya earns $300 million annually. The Trade ministry records further illustrate that Kenya's horticultural industry is the second largest foreign exchange earner after tea and employs 500,000 and over 2 million people respectively. The Tea, coffee and horticulture industries are the major consumers of pesticides.
Ironically, Kenya is the leading producer of a natural pesticide, pyrethrin, a broad-spectrum insecticide processed from pyrethrum's dried flowers. Pyrethrum has been grown in Kenya for export purposes for the last 70 years and 8,000 tonnes of dried flowers are produced annually. Here is the paradox:
95% percent of all the crude pyrethrin is exported to the west with USA taking 60% and Europe raking in the 35%. The remaining 5% is shared by Egypt and South Africa each of whom takes 2%. Only 1% remains in Kenya. It behoves all understanding why the Kenyan authorities fully aware that Pyrethrin-based insecticides can easily replace most of the synthetic insecticides allow for the exports of nearly all of its eco-friendly natural insecticide and imports highly toxic synthetic ones.
Here is the answer: Fully aware of the health risks posed synthetics, Kenya authorities overlook this environmental health aspect and fix their eyes on the profits Kenyan pyrethrins earn. It is this scenario that aptly captures Kenya's and East Africa's dangling with dangerous and highly toxic pesticides as Furadan
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
OBSOLETE PESTICIDES IN EAST AFRICA
(LAMU, KENYA) East Africa has them. They are hazardous, portend grim and fatal implications and adversely affect all living things.
These are obsolete pesticides which are defined as “stocked pesticides that can no longer be used for their original purpose or any other purpose and therefore require disposal.”
The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that three million people are poisoned and 200,000 die each year due to pesticides. A majority of these casualties are drawn from vulnerable, poverty stricken populations, agricultural workers and children.
According to Pesticides Action Network (PAN) this problem stems from a cluster of factors. “Causes of the problem are many and include the banning of pesticide products after import into the country, supply of banned products to countries in the form of aid, oversupply or duplicate supply by different aid agencies, poorly packaged or labeled products and inappropriate formulations of pesticides for local use.”
The East African governments are not candid on the stocks they have on obsolete pesticides. My attempts to get this information hits a brick wall. I therefore turn to the Rome based Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). According to FAO estimates the amount of obsolete pesticides in East Africa currently stands at around 3,000 tonnes. Not a single East African Community country is free of the ignominy posed by these poisons.
“In Eastern Africa we estimate that there are in the region of 3,000 tonnes of obsolete pesticides. We are currently working in Tanzania and in discussions with Kenya and Malawi. We have pretty much completed cleanup in Mozambique and do not have a great deal of current information from Uganda. Rwanda has some known stocks that have been buried some time ago, we have no information on Burundi.” Mark Davis the senior officer at FAO's Pesticide Management, Plant Production and Protection Division says.
Nearly half of the 3,000 tonnes are said to be amongst the dreaded persistent organic pollutants (POPs), the blacklisted ‘dirty dozen’ pesticides which have been banned worldwide. “These pesticides seriously threaten the health of both rural and urban populations, especially the poorest of the poor, and contribute to land degradation and water pollution.” Ethiopian scientist Alemayehu Wodageneh warns.
According to the Stockholm Convention there are several sites in Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda and Comoros that are heavily contaminated. These include, Kitengela, Wajir, Mandera (Kenya), Dire Dawa, Addis Ababa, Oromiya, (Ethiopia), Gisenyi and Gikongoro in Rwanda and Anjouan, Moheli and Grand Comore in Comoros.
The problem of disposing obsolete pesticides is slow as most of these countries lack the appropriate technology for such an exercise. Indeed there are inadequate waste destruction facilities in the region today as these countries lack adequate high-temperature incinerators. At the moment the cost of incinerating obsolete pesticides stands at $3500 per tonne.
I visited the Kitengela site in Kajiado County south of Nairobi, where banned, highly restricted and obsolete pesticides are officially stored. The store was built in 1967. A study conducted in the year 2005 under the auspices of International Persistent Organic Pesticides (IPEP) project found the site and the vicinity to be highly contaminated. Among the pesticides stored included Aldrin, Dieldrin Heptachlor, Endrin and the now famous Furadan.
For decades now the US agro-chemical giant Farm Machinery Company (FMC) has been knowingly exporting for sale a highly restricted chemical to the East African Community (EAC) block countries of Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi. The chemical trading as Furadan but well known scientifically as carbofuran was on sale in Kenya until late 2009. It is imported in Kenya as a 'seed dressing agent for control of soil dwelling and foliar feeding insects' by FMC's local distributor, Juanco Group. Furadan is both an insecticide and nematicide and at the centre of a bitter row pitting environmental conservationists on the one side against agro-chemical traders and the government on the other.
There are two forms of the pesticide, granular and liquid. The granular form was phased out in the US by Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 1991.
Indeed the Furadan saga has just revealed the dirty dealings of western chemical giants with complicity of local merchants and civil servants who use Africa as a dumping ground for banned, restricted and obsolete pesticides in Africa.
Before it was withdrawn from the Kenyan market in 2009 the granular Furadan which was retailing for $1.25, had reportedly decimated wildlife in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. Furadan has been associated with the rampant poisoning resulting in the deaths of 187 African white backed vultures (Gyps africanus) in 2004 alone, other raptors, two dozen lions and a general decline by 77% of vulture population in Laikipia in Kenya. Not to mention deaths of camels, hyenas, lions and hippos.
“If Furadan is not safe enough for use in America. Then it’s not safe enough for us in Africa.” reknown conservationist Richard Leakey remarks.
Though the granular carbofuran was phased out in 1991 in the US it found its way to East Africa as Furadan and was only withdrawn from the Kenyan agrovet shelves in 2009, after complaints from conservationists and farmers. According to the records of the Kenya's pesticide regulator the Pesticide Control and Produce Board (PCPB) a statutory state corporation in the Ministry of Agriculture carbofuran (the main ingredient of Furadan) which was registered in Kenya in 1989 was banned in Kenya in 2004. Questions arise. Why did PCPB allow the importation of a highly restricted chemical after it had been phased out in the country of origin and banned in Canada and EU? If it was phased out in 1991 why was it on sale up to 2009? What did PCPB stand to gain by allowing a dangerous chemical it had banned in 2004 to be sold under a new name? Was FMC dumping carbofuran in East Africa?
As we went to press these questions and a multitude of others combined by incessant calls by this writer to FMC, PCPB, Kenya's Agriculture Secretary Dr. Wilson Songa and National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) Director General had not been answered.
Little has changed in the Kitengela site. In 2005 the International POPs Elimination Project undertook a study at the Kitengela site. In its report titled Hotspot Report for a Contaminated Site: Kitengela Obsolete Pesticides Store in Kenya it was reveled that respiratory disease, emission of irritating pungent smell, skin ailments and death of livestock was prevalent in the areas adjacent to the obsolete pesticides site.
The site still remains a risk especially with the increase of population oblivious of the dangers posed by the Ministry of Agriculture site.
While East African nations are yoked with the dangers of pesticides the fact is, they are minnows when it comes to pesticide production. The five major pesticide producing nations are Britain, France, Germany, Switzerland and the US. China, India and Brazil are also hovering around the major players. The waste management industry in Europe has a turnover of €100 million. So if East Africa is not a producer of pesticides how comes the region is saddled with obsolete pesticides. The answer is simple: Dumping.
Way back in 1977, during the United Nations Environmental Program meeting, the then Kenya's minister for Water Development Dr. Julius Kiano thundered, “Stop using us as dumping ground.” At a time when political correctness was the norm Kiano went against the grain: “Kenya detests the use of developing countries as experimental dumping grounds for chemical products that have been banned or have not been adequately tested.” he warned.
In 1992 the then United Nations Environment Programme Executive Director, Dr Mostafa Tolba accused the Italian mafia of dumping toxic waste in Somalia. Nobody took him seriously.
For years now such allegations of toxic waste dumping off Somalia by European companies were an open secret, but little action was taken and the allegations were treated as mere rumours. It wasn't until the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami that the truth of such allegations came to light when broken hazardous waste containers were washed up to Somali shores.
Come 2008 and Tolba's 16-year old claims were echoed by the then United Nations representative to Somali, Ahmedou Ould Abdalla who said:
"I am convinced there is dumping of solid waste, chemicals and probably nuclear waste. There is no government and there are few people with high moral ground. It is a disaster off the Somali coast, a disaster (for) the Somali environment, the Somali population,"
In 2009 in an interview with Al Jazeera, Tolba recalled:
"At the time, it felt like we were dealing with the Mafia, or some sort of organised crime group, possibly working with these industrial firms. It was very shady, and quite underground, and I would agree with Ould-Abdallah’s claims that it is still going on... Unfortunately the war has not allowed environmental groups to investigate this fully." said Tolba.
Earlier this year at the African Union meeting on Maritime and Security Somali's deputy Premier Abdulrahman Adan Ibrahim Ibbi noted.
“If the international community wants to limit acts of piracy, it has to help Somalis keep illegal foreign fishing and toxic waste dumping away from their coasts," Deputy Prime Minister Ibbi said. "We appeal the delegates attending this assembly to share with my government the clearance of toxic material and nuclear waste containers dumped in African coastal areas," he added. Some of the containers came to surface when tsunami tidal waves hit Indian Ocean countries in 2004, he added in a speech.
I travelled to Kenya's northern most coastal island to inquire if the side effects of the dumping in Somali waters had been felt in the Kenyan islands.
“We have also heard about the dumping in Somali and we have been very much concerned. Together with our fisheries, police and marine officers we have been very keen monitoring aquatic life. So far we haven't observed anything unusual.” Athman Dumila Mohd, the Lamu District Public Health Officer tells me. “Human beings can lie, but marine and aquatic beings cannot lie when exposed to any harmful toxic waste and poison. If the dumping is done in the ocean trust me dead fish will be floating all over the sea. They are very sensitive to ecological changes.”
This being a sensitive matter affecting the Western Indian Ocean shelf and more so fish stocks I pose the same questions of toxic dumping to the Seychelles based authoritative Tuna commission, the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC) Executive Secretary Alejandro Anganuzzi.
“This is the first time that we hear this claim. In the past, we have heard claims about the relationship between piracy and illegal fishing, but not a relationship between toxic dumping and the depletion to fish stocks.” says Anganuzzi. “There are no studies to support that claim. IOTC scientists have not looked into this issue, because there is no data on the nature and frequency of the toxic dumping in the past that could be related to depletion in the fish stocks. Nevertheless, it seems unlikely that dumping would have been at such a level that it would have affected a highly migratory and abundant resource such as the various species of tuna.”
It seems the dumping wasn't in the Indian Ocean but in the Somali hinterland.
I seek out the international environmental watchdog Greenpeace for details. Patrizia Cuonzo of Greenpeace provides me with the latest Greenpeace report titled “The Toxic Ships: The Italian Hub, The Mediterranean Area and Africa” released in June 2010. The no-holds barred report traces the Mafia links to Somali toxic dumping and end up calling for an independent investigation on the Somali dumping:
“Based on the findings Greenpeace believes that: UN must carry on an independent assessment on the alleged dumping of toxic and radioactive waste in Somalia, particularly in the area of the port of Eel Ma’aan; EU must finally implement its own toxic waste prevention measures, which are one of the pillars of the EU waste policy; The Italian Government must create a strong coordination among all the investigative Authorities (Procura della Repubblica) which have been, and still are, working on the issue of toxic and radioactive waste trade, to identify and neutralize the network of people and enterprises managing the illegal waste trade shipped to Developing Countries (and possibly dumped into the sea) with the help of criminal networks and the support of State Civil Servants.”
And that explains the conundrum of toxic dumping.
These are obsolete pesticides which are defined as “stocked pesticides that can no longer be used for their original purpose or any other purpose and therefore require disposal.”
The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that three million people are poisoned and 200,000 die each year due to pesticides. A majority of these casualties are drawn from vulnerable, poverty stricken populations, agricultural workers and children.
According to Pesticides Action Network (PAN) this problem stems from a cluster of factors. “Causes of the problem are many and include the banning of pesticide products after import into the country, supply of banned products to countries in the form of aid, oversupply or duplicate supply by different aid agencies, poorly packaged or labeled products and inappropriate formulations of pesticides for local use.”
The East African governments are not candid on the stocks they have on obsolete pesticides. My attempts to get this information hits a brick wall. I therefore turn to the Rome based Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). According to FAO estimates the amount of obsolete pesticides in East Africa currently stands at around 3,000 tonnes. Not a single East African Community country is free of the ignominy posed by these poisons.
“In Eastern Africa we estimate that there are in the region of 3,000 tonnes of obsolete pesticides. We are currently working in Tanzania and in discussions with Kenya and Malawi. We have pretty much completed cleanup in Mozambique and do not have a great deal of current information from Uganda. Rwanda has some known stocks that have been buried some time ago, we have no information on Burundi.” Mark Davis the senior officer at FAO's Pesticide Management, Plant Production and Protection Division says.
Nearly half of the 3,000 tonnes are said to be amongst the dreaded persistent organic pollutants (POPs), the blacklisted ‘dirty dozen’ pesticides which have been banned worldwide. “These pesticides seriously threaten the health of both rural and urban populations, especially the poorest of the poor, and contribute to land degradation and water pollution.” Ethiopian scientist Alemayehu Wodageneh warns.
According to the Stockholm Convention there are several sites in Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda and Comoros that are heavily contaminated. These include, Kitengela, Wajir, Mandera (Kenya), Dire Dawa, Addis Ababa, Oromiya, (Ethiopia), Gisenyi and Gikongoro in Rwanda and Anjouan, Moheli and Grand Comore in Comoros.
The problem of disposing obsolete pesticides is slow as most of these countries lack the appropriate technology for such an exercise. Indeed there are inadequate waste destruction facilities in the region today as these countries lack adequate high-temperature incinerators. At the moment the cost of incinerating obsolete pesticides stands at $3500 per tonne.
I visited the Kitengela site in Kajiado County south of Nairobi, where banned, highly restricted and obsolete pesticides are officially stored. The store was built in 1967. A study conducted in the year 2005 under the auspices of International Persistent Organic Pesticides (IPEP) project found the site and the vicinity to be highly contaminated. Among the pesticides stored included Aldrin, Dieldrin Heptachlor, Endrin and the now famous Furadan.
For decades now the US agro-chemical giant Farm Machinery Company (FMC) has been knowingly exporting for sale a highly restricted chemical to the East African Community (EAC) block countries of Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi. The chemical trading as Furadan but well known scientifically as carbofuran was on sale in Kenya until late 2009. It is imported in Kenya as a 'seed dressing agent for control of soil dwelling and foliar feeding insects' by FMC's local distributor, Juanco Group. Furadan is both an insecticide and nematicide and at the centre of a bitter row pitting environmental conservationists on the one side against agro-chemical traders and the government on the other.
There are two forms of the pesticide, granular and liquid. The granular form was phased out in the US by Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 1991.
Indeed the Furadan saga has just revealed the dirty dealings of western chemical giants with complicity of local merchants and civil servants who use Africa as a dumping ground for banned, restricted and obsolete pesticides in Africa.
Before it was withdrawn from the Kenyan market in 2009 the granular Furadan which was retailing for $1.25, had reportedly decimated wildlife in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. Furadan has been associated with the rampant poisoning resulting in the deaths of 187 African white backed vultures (Gyps africanus) in 2004 alone, other raptors, two dozen lions and a general decline by 77% of vulture population in Laikipia in Kenya. Not to mention deaths of camels, hyenas, lions and hippos.
“If Furadan is not safe enough for use in America. Then it’s not safe enough for us in Africa.” reknown conservationist Richard Leakey remarks.
Though the granular carbofuran was phased out in 1991 in the US it found its way to East Africa as Furadan and was only withdrawn from the Kenyan agrovet shelves in 2009, after complaints from conservationists and farmers. According to the records of the Kenya's pesticide regulator the Pesticide Control and Produce Board (PCPB) a statutory state corporation in the Ministry of Agriculture carbofuran (the main ingredient of Furadan) which was registered in Kenya in 1989 was banned in Kenya in 2004. Questions arise. Why did PCPB allow the importation of a highly restricted chemical after it had been phased out in the country of origin and banned in Canada and EU? If it was phased out in 1991 why was it on sale up to 2009? What did PCPB stand to gain by allowing a dangerous chemical it had banned in 2004 to be sold under a new name? Was FMC dumping carbofuran in East Africa?
As we went to press these questions and a multitude of others combined by incessant calls by this writer to FMC, PCPB, Kenya's Agriculture Secretary Dr. Wilson Songa and National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) Director General had not been answered.
Little has changed in the Kitengela site. In 2005 the International POPs Elimination Project undertook a study at the Kitengela site. In its report titled Hotspot Report for a Contaminated Site: Kitengela Obsolete Pesticides Store in Kenya it was reveled that respiratory disease, emission of irritating pungent smell, skin ailments and death of livestock was prevalent in the areas adjacent to the obsolete pesticides site.
The site still remains a risk especially with the increase of population oblivious of the dangers posed by the Ministry of Agriculture site.
While East African nations are yoked with the dangers of pesticides the fact is, they are minnows when it comes to pesticide production. The five major pesticide producing nations are Britain, France, Germany, Switzerland and the US. China, India and Brazil are also hovering around the major players. The waste management industry in Europe has a turnover of €100 million. So if East Africa is not a producer of pesticides how comes the region is saddled with obsolete pesticides. The answer is simple: Dumping.
Way back in 1977, during the United Nations Environmental Program meeting, the then Kenya's minister for Water Development Dr. Julius Kiano thundered, “Stop using us as dumping ground.” At a time when political correctness was the norm Kiano went against the grain: “Kenya detests the use of developing countries as experimental dumping grounds for chemical products that have been banned or have not been adequately tested.” he warned.
In 1992 the then United Nations Environment Programme Executive Director, Dr Mostafa Tolba accused the Italian mafia of dumping toxic waste in Somalia. Nobody took him seriously.
For years now such allegations of toxic waste dumping off Somalia by European companies were an open secret, but little action was taken and the allegations were treated as mere rumours. It wasn't until the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami that the truth of such allegations came to light when broken hazardous waste containers were washed up to Somali shores.
Come 2008 and Tolba's 16-year old claims were echoed by the then United Nations representative to Somali, Ahmedou Ould Abdalla who said:
"I am convinced there is dumping of solid waste, chemicals and probably nuclear waste. There is no government and there are few people with high moral ground. It is a disaster off the Somali coast, a disaster (for) the Somali environment, the Somali population,"
In 2009 in an interview with Al Jazeera, Tolba recalled:
"At the time, it felt like we were dealing with the Mafia, or some sort of organised crime group, possibly working with these industrial firms. It was very shady, and quite underground, and I would agree with Ould-Abdallah’s claims that it is still going on... Unfortunately the war has not allowed environmental groups to investigate this fully." said Tolba.
Earlier this year at the African Union meeting on Maritime and Security Somali's deputy Premier Abdulrahman Adan Ibrahim Ibbi noted.
“If the international community wants to limit acts of piracy, it has to help Somalis keep illegal foreign fishing and toxic waste dumping away from their coasts," Deputy Prime Minister Ibbi said. "We appeal the delegates attending this assembly to share with my government the clearance of toxic material and nuclear waste containers dumped in African coastal areas," he added. Some of the containers came to surface when tsunami tidal waves hit Indian Ocean countries in 2004, he added in a speech.
I travelled to Kenya's northern most coastal island to inquire if the side effects of the dumping in Somali waters had been felt in the Kenyan islands.
“We have also heard about the dumping in Somali and we have been very much concerned. Together with our fisheries, police and marine officers we have been very keen monitoring aquatic life. So far we haven't observed anything unusual.” Athman Dumila Mohd, the Lamu District Public Health Officer tells me. “Human beings can lie, but marine and aquatic beings cannot lie when exposed to any harmful toxic waste and poison. If the dumping is done in the ocean trust me dead fish will be floating all over the sea. They are very sensitive to ecological changes.”
This being a sensitive matter affecting the Western Indian Ocean shelf and more so fish stocks I pose the same questions of toxic dumping to the Seychelles based authoritative Tuna commission, the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC) Executive Secretary Alejandro Anganuzzi.
“This is the first time that we hear this claim. In the past, we have heard claims about the relationship between piracy and illegal fishing, but not a relationship between toxic dumping and the depletion to fish stocks.” says Anganuzzi. “There are no studies to support that claim. IOTC scientists have not looked into this issue, because there is no data on the nature and frequency of the toxic dumping in the past that could be related to depletion in the fish stocks. Nevertheless, it seems unlikely that dumping would have been at such a level that it would have affected a highly migratory and abundant resource such as the various species of tuna.”
It seems the dumping wasn't in the Indian Ocean but in the Somali hinterland.
I seek out the international environmental watchdog Greenpeace for details. Patrizia Cuonzo of Greenpeace provides me with the latest Greenpeace report titled “The Toxic Ships: The Italian Hub, The Mediterranean Area and Africa” released in June 2010. The no-holds barred report traces the Mafia links to Somali toxic dumping and end up calling for an independent investigation on the Somali dumping:
“Based on the findings Greenpeace believes that: UN must carry on an independent assessment on the alleged dumping of toxic and radioactive waste in Somalia, particularly in the area of the port of Eel Ma’aan; EU must finally implement its own toxic waste prevention measures, which are one of the pillars of the EU waste policy; The Italian Government must create a strong coordination among all the investigative Authorities (Procura della Repubblica) which have been, and still are, working on the issue of toxic and radioactive waste trade, to identify and neutralize the network of people and enterprises managing the illegal waste trade shipped to Developing Countries (and possibly dumped into the sea) with the help of criminal networks and the support of State Civil Servants.”
And that explains the conundrum of toxic dumping.
Monday, March 8, 2010
ECA AND AU WALK TALL
[ADDIS ABABA 2nd/FEB/2010 Wanjohi Kabukuru] The African Union and the Economic Commission for Africa both headquatered in Addis Ababa are walking tall after the successful opening of the AU Heads of State and Government's summit in the Ethiopian capital.
For the first time in its entire history, the AU summit dedicated its theme on ICTs. This has been a milestone success for the two organizations as slightly over a decade ago, they embarked on a highly ambitious undertaking dubbed the African Information Society Initiative (AISI). The main aim of AISI was to galvanise the continent to harness information communications technologies to leap-frog her development progress and agenda. At inception little was expected of AISI.
Wayback in 1995 AU gave ECA the mandate of spearheading the AISI agenda. In 1996 AISI came into being. This came about after the Conference of Ministers passed the now famous 1996 Resolution 812-XXXI which set in motion the operational framework of adapting ICTS within the member states. This then paved the way for member states to come up with policies and legislative agendas of the same. A quiet revolution has indeed taken place in Africa in ways that were hitherto unimaginable. In the last decade alone according to the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), Africa has recorded the biggest growth in mobile phone penetration, internet growth and related technologies. By 2008 mobile phone users in Africa had reached 370 million users.
Since AISI came into being it has left the drawing board on to the practical implementation of its key tenets. Currently it is estimated that more than three quarters of the 53 member states of ECA have national e-strategies in tandem with their development agendas. As the National Information and Communication Initiative strategies undertaken by each member state took root in the continent, the transformation of the continent into an information society had began in earnest. In a multi-pronged strategy to highlight the importance of ICTs, member countries, civil societies, the media, bi-lateral partners and other stakeholders were all co-opted in a bid to make the continent an all-inclusive info-knowledge society.
It is perhaps on this background that the new AU chairman, Malawian President Bingu wa Mutharika dedicated his speech to ICTs. In his acceptance speech President Mutharika proposed a slogan for AU. In his proposed slogan “Feeding Africa through New Technologies: Let us act now” Mutharika implored the African leaders; “I am convinced that information and communication technology can play a major role in the development of agriculture and food security on our continent.” he said hastening to add: “This would enable our farmers to access important information on agricultural products, advanced technologies, research findings as well as markets.”
Ever since AISI was mooted a boom of ICT successes have transforming lifestyles and trends in the continent have been spawned. In the Sahel, pastoralists use ICTs in the form of GPS/GIS-based maps linked with mobile phones to communicate with other groups of livestock herders pasture, water points and suitable graze lands. The same GPS technology is being used in Kenya, Botswana and Guinea by conservationists, hunters and fishermen respectively to track wildlife, game management, and police fishing grounds from poachers.
The latest vogue of this quite social-economic transformation is Mobile banking in Eastern Africa. All these unique developments are courtesy of what had been seen as a mere talk shop 15 years ago. As the summit progresses, the continent's leaders are looking back at how their decision has impacted on the continent and what ICTs mean for the future.
Little did the world know that the UNECA-driven AISI is actually the action framework that is fast transforming the continent into a knowledge hub. [ENDS]
For the first time in its entire history, the AU summit dedicated its theme on ICTs. This has been a milestone success for the two organizations as slightly over a decade ago, they embarked on a highly ambitious undertaking dubbed the African Information Society Initiative (AISI). The main aim of AISI was to galvanise the continent to harness information communications technologies to leap-frog her development progress and agenda. At inception little was expected of AISI.
Wayback in 1995 AU gave ECA the mandate of spearheading the AISI agenda. In 1996 AISI came into being. This came about after the Conference of Ministers passed the now famous 1996 Resolution 812-XXXI which set in motion the operational framework of adapting ICTS within the member states. This then paved the way for member states to come up with policies and legislative agendas of the same. A quiet revolution has indeed taken place in Africa in ways that were hitherto unimaginable. In the last decade alone according to the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), Africa has recorded the biggest growth in mobile phone penetration, internet growth and related technologies. By 2008 mobile phone users in Africa had reached 370 million users.
Since AISI came into being it has left the drawing board on to the practical implementation of its key tenets. Currently it is estimated that more than three quarters of the 53 member states of ECA have national e-strategies in tandem with their development agendas. As the National Information and Communication Initiative strategies undertaken by each member state took root in the continent, the transformation of the continent into an information society had began in earnest. In a multi-pronged strategy to highlight the importance of ICTs, member countries, civil societies, the media, bi-lateral partners and other stakeholders were all co-opted in a bid to make the continent an all-inclusive info-knowledge society.
It is perhaps on this background that the new AU chairman, Malawian President Bingu wa Mutharika dedicated his speech to ICTs. In his acceptance speech President Mutharika proposed a slogan for AU. In his proposed slogan “Feeding Africa through New Technologies: Let us act now” Mutharika implored the African leaders; “I am convinced that information and communication technology can play a major role in the development of agriculture and food security on our continent.” he said hastening to add: “This would enable our farmers to access important information on agricultural products, advanced technologies, research findings as well as markets.”
Ever since AISI was mooted a boom of ICT successes have transforming lifestyles and trends in the continent have been spawned. In the Sahel, pastoralists use ICTs in the form of GPS/GIS-based maps linked with mobile phones to communicate with other groups of livestock herders pasture, water points and suitable graze lands. The same GPS technology is being used in Kenya, Botswana and Guinea by conservationists, hunters and fishermen respectively to track wildlife, game management, and police fishing grounds from poachers.
The latest vogue of this quite social-economic transformation is Mobile banking in Eastern Africa. All these unique developments are courtesy of what had been seen as a mere talk shop 15 years ago. As the summit progresses, the continent's leaders are looking back at how their decision has impacted on the continent and what ICTs mean for the future.
Little did the world know that the UNECA-driven AISI is actually the action framework that is fast transforming the continent into a knowledge hub. [ENDS]
"MY GRANNY CAN SEND ME SMS"
[ADDIS ABABA 1st/FEB/2010 by WANJOHI KABUKURU] Mozambique has embarked on an ambitious Information and Communication Technology Park whose initial construction cost is estimated to cost some $25 million.
“We know this is a large amount of money to invest in such a venture but we are convinced that the multiplier effects will pay off in the long run. We are looking forward at e-skilling our public and this technology park is envisaged to be an incubator for knowledge, skills and innovation generation” Venancio Mussingue the Mozambican minister for science and technology revealed this on the sidelines of the African Union's 14th Heads of State summit which is solely dedicated to ICTs.
This is indeed a huge undertaking for the South African nation with a population of 17 million and richly endowed in natural resources such as tantalum, titanium and graphite and massive hydro-electric potential.
“As a government we are looking forward at our population enjoying the benefits of e-government, tele-medicine, e-learning, e-commerce and all other benefits related to ICTs. We believe ICTs are a faster way not only to spur our economic growth index but also to unify our nation and uplift the quality of life enjoyed by a typical Mozambican.” Mussingue said.
The Mozambican government held a demonstration stall at the austere United nations Conference Centre Exhibition hall to showcase the Maputo government's commitment to ICTs. The minister revealed how his government has benefited greatly from ICTs which have been used in the management of land records, land demarcation, boundaries administration and also citizen bionic registration.
“We are better managing our land assets, our ID and taxation systems are also better managed ever since we deployed ICTs to all these areas. However the most important development I can confess to of ICTs is the fact that today my grandmother can send me an SMS.” he adds mirthfully. [ENDS]
“We know this is a large amount of money to invest in such a venture but we are convinced that the multiplier effects will pay off in the long run. We are looking forward at e-skilling our public and this technology park is envisaged to be an incubator for knowledge, skills and innovation generation” Venancio Mussingue the Mozambican minister for science and technology revealed this on the sidelines of the African Union's 14th Heads of State summit which is solely dedicated to ICTs.
This is indeed a huge undertaking for the South African nation with a population of 17 million and richly endowed in natural resources such as tantalum, titanium and graphite and massive hydro-electric potential.
“As a government we are looking forward at our population enjoying the benefits of e-government, tele-medicine, e-learning, e-commerce and all other benefits related to ICTs. We believe ICTs are a faster way not only to spur our economic growth index but also to unify our nation and uplift the quality of life enjoyed by a typical Mozambican.” Mussingue said.
The Mozambican government held a demonstration stall at the austere United nations Conference Centre Exhibition hall to showcase the Maputo government's commitment to ICTs. The minister revealed how his government has benefited greatly from ICTs which have been used in the management of land records, land demarcation, boundaries administration and also citizen bionic registration.
“We are better managing our land assets, our ID and taxation systems are also better managed ever since we deployed ICTs to all these areas. However the most important development I can confess to of ICTs is the fact that today my grandmother can send me an SMS.” he adds mirthfully. [ENDS]
Monday, August 17, 2009
CORRUPTION PRECIPITATES CLIMATE CHANGE
[By Wanjohi Kabukuru in Rift Valley, Kenya 10/July/2009] Who would have ever imagined that the tentacles of corruption can precipitate climate change? Well, Kenyans know this first hand.
A biting drought; gruesome famine; acute water shortage; a gnawing power rationing schedule and all the stuff of pestilence are the harsh effects of climate change battering Kenyans today.
Kenyans are now reaping the whirlwind effects of runaway corruption, which saw the country’s politically-correct elites excising one of the country’s strategic water towers for their own benefit way back in the 1990s. All these are courtesy of ignoring sound environmental advice and hiving off parts of the Mau Forest complex for personal gains.
The Mau forest complex situated in the Great Rift Valley, covers a substantial area of Kenya’s south-western highlands, representing the largest remaining near-continuous block of montane indigenous forest in East Africa, with five main forest reserves namely Eastern, Western, South-western Mau, Trans-Mara, Ol Pusimoru, and there is a sixth large block, the Maasai Mau. The Mau Complex has deep fertile volcanic soils. Being the largest closed-canopy forest ecosystem of Kenya the Mau Complex is estimated to be as large as the forests of Mt. Kenya and the Aberdares combined. Rift Valley and Western provinces depend entirely on the Mau as it is the single most important water catchments for these two expansive administrative regions in Kenya and neighbouring countries.
Exactly 140,000ha of the Mau Complex were excised during Kenya’s second President Daniel Moi’s tenure. The reason for this excision was said to be the “settlement of the Ogiek”. The Ogiek are a minority community in Kenya who are primarily forest-dwellers. What many didn’t know then was the fact that this was a ruse to pave way for extensive illegal, irregular and ill-planned settlements, as well as unlawful forest resources extraction and overuse of water by large scale irrigation plantations by top politicians in the Moi era.
“Since I took over as the minister for environment, I found out with sadness that issues concerning the environment were those dealing with precious stones but those concerning conservation of forests, alerts on rivers drying up, looming drought and others were largely ignored.” Says environment minister John Michuki.
Kenya’s Grand Coalition government is currently grappling with a decision to reclaim the forest, forestall the harsh effects of climate change and face political backlash or allow the status quo to remain and be damned ecologically. Reclaiming the forest for reforestation means relocating over 25,000 settlers within the 400, 000ha of the Mau Forest Complex and dealing with a possible political fallout in Kenya’s feisty politics.
“The Kenya Land Alliance collected empirical evidence that points out that the excision of forests within the complex was illegally and irregularly done. Simply put in excising the Mau Forest Complex, the Moi government failed the acid test of public policy doctrine that asserts that government has an inalienable duty to protect the commonwealth – air, water, wildlife, public health, genetic heritage and forests, which we all inherit and own together and which none of us can own individually.” Odenda Lumumba, the national coordinator of the land rights lobby Kenya Land Alliance (KLA) asserts.
At the centre of this storm are the intra-party politics of the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) a key partner in the coalition government. ODM leader and Kenya’s Prime Minister Raila Odinga who supports the resettlement of the Mau Complex settlers has found himself trying to quell dissent in his party as his position on the Mau has been opposed by a majority of ODM MPs from the Rift Valley province led by his party’s deputy William Ruto, who commands huge support in Rift Valley and also doubles up as agriculture minister.
“The excisions and the widespread encroachments have led to the destruction of nearly a quarter of the Mau Complex area over the past 15 years. Such an extensive and on-going destruction of a key natural asset for the country is nothing less than a national emergency.” Odinga says. “I will not be intimidated. I will not be blackmailed. I am ready to pay the price. I am doing this for Kenya. It is a matter of national interest. I am on the side of the truth and it never fails.”
In late July, Raila named the illegal beneficiaries of the Mau in parliament. A list that read like who-was-who in Moi’s government. In mid August Raila warned the politicians opposed to the Mau reclamation:
“The Rift Valley leaders are fighting for their own rights because they are the ones who grabbed the land, sub-divided it and sold it to to the small people but we want them to know that we will take back the land and prosecute them.” Raila warned.
Initially the issue was viewed as ‘ODM’s Achilles Heel’. Even when the warnings were sounded as far back as the 1990’s when the excisions were taking place, few took an interest. Today, the circumstances have changed, thanks to climate change. Drought, water scarcity and food shortage have forced the country to revisit the issues.
The Rift Valley legislators led by Ruto have had a hard time explaining themselves to the public:
“We are not madmen to oppose the conservation of the Mau water tower. We know and feel the consequences of destruction. Any efforts to portray Rift Valley members of Parliament as opposing conservation are cheap and primitive.” Says Ruto.
Key tourist destinations and reserves that are both nationally and internationally recognized notably the Maasai Mara, Serengeti and Kakamega Forest Reserve which depend on the Mau, are all distressed by the current scenario at play over the Mau Complex. The illegitimate occupation of the forest complex has not only unleashed on Kenya an environmental plague of sorts, but it has now made other capitals to ask Nairobi the hard questions.
“The destruction of the Mau Complex has even attracted international concern. Those who have invaded the forest for timber and farming are like people who have lost hope for their country and want to grab anything at their disposal. Rivers which originate from the Mau are affected by the destruction and their future is now uncertain.” Michuki asserts.
Lending her voice to the Mau Complex saga is Nobel laureate Professor Wangari Maathai who castigates the authorities for failing to rein in on corruption:
“The gradual degradation of Mau Forest complex has been attributed to decades of mismanagement, compounded by irresponsible and corrupt practices by the very people who were expected to protect it. When forests are degraded, rainfall patterns and micro climates change, volumes of water in rivers are reduced and finally disappear, lakes recede, underground water levels go down, vegetation and crops fail and biodiversity gradually dies. Quite obviously the negative impacts on the Mau affect not only Kenyans but East Africans in general and the people of Sudan and Egypt.”
The reality today is that the Mau Complex is a classic case study of the interplay of geo-politics, hydro-politics and the harsh effects of climate change whose ramifications will be felt all the way in Egypt should the Rift Valley MPs opposed to the relocation of the settlers have their way. The ecological disaster awaiting is more dreadful than the political brinkmanship surrounding the Mau currently.
As late as 2005, Dar es Salaam, Kampala and Cairo had started applying pressure on Nairobi to arrest the degeneration of the Mau Complex before it got out of hand. Lately the pressure has not only been applied by the same Nile Basin countries but also by a super power, Tokyo.
Interestingly however, the Mau maybe in Kenya, but it’s an international resource.
The Mau Complex affects Tanzania by virtue of the Mara River which feeds into Serengeti and Ewaso Ngiro River which is the principal inflow of Lake Natron in Tanzania. Tanzanian authorities closely monitoring the changes of the Mara and Ewaso Ngiro Rivers raised their concerns through the East African Community (EAC) after the harsh realities were noted infringing on the ecosystem of the world famous pristine park the Serengeti, four years ago.
The Mau Complex is not really a Kenyan affair on its own. It’s an international issue whose ramifications should the Mau collapse are nightmarish and unimaginable.
For starters the Mara River is classified as an ‘international river’ shared between Kenya and Tanzania. However since it finishes its course on the Lake Victoria, the dimensions grow bigger and the entry of other new players comes in. The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) which runs the Mara River Basin Initiative (MRBI) notes of the Mara River:
“The Mara River is an international river, shared between Kenya and Tanzania. The Mara River Basin is about 13,750 km2, of which about 65% is located in Kenya and 35% in Tanzania. It runs through the Maasai Mara Game Reserve on the Kenyan side and the Serengeti National Park on the Tanzanian side, both of global conservation significance and of great economic importance. It powers its water into Lake Victoria, the source of the Nile.”
In other words the Mau complex impinges on Africa’s largest freshwater lake, the Lake Victoria, which is the main ‘source’ of the River Nile. And that is how Kampala and Cairo come into play. Anything that affects Lake Victoria has a multiplier consequence on the Nile (read Egypt).
Egypt and all the other major movers of the Nile Basin Initiative (NBI) namely, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda have all put pressure on Nairobi to keep the Mau ‘alive’. Kenya too is a member of the NBI.
“Even a country like Egypt would have an interest in Kenya protecting the Mau Forest Complex because the Nile is essentially a hydrological system that is fed from many river basins. The Mau forest and other sources of water are important to the riparian countries hat have come together under the auspices of the Nile Basin Initiative. The cumulative effect of what has been taking place in the Mau is that there will be less and less water not only in Lake Victoria but also downstream.” Achim Steiner, UNEP’s Executive Director says.
Alula Yohannes in his paper “The Politics of the Nile” notes that Egypt has never wanted the contentious 1959 Nile Treaty which gave Egypt exclusive rights to 76% of the Nile waters to be reviewed and is likely to play dirty should it feel that the source of the Nile is threatened:
“Egypt seems adamant on the continuation of the 1959 agreement and does not want to permit new vistas and agreements on the sharing of the Nile waters. Instead of cooperating with Ethiopia and other Nile countries, Egypt resorts to subterfuge on a number of occasions to divert the attention of world public opinion and even went to the extent of sponsoring disgruntled political groupings such as the Somali factions and the Eritrean government as a form of deterrence and probably as political intimidation directed against Ethiopia. Egypt fails to recognize that ultimately it is only through negotiation and mutual understanding that it can secure its permanent interest; it also fails to understand that the present generation of Ethiopians will nonetheless exhibit resolve to use the waters of the Nile for the benefit of their people. Egypt cannot employ the old-fashioned Khedive Ismail strategy or British control of the headwaters of the Nile.”
For the last 10 years, the Nairobi-based world authority on the environment, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) under its aptly named Division of Early Warning and Assessment (DEWA) has kept a close watch over the Mau and produced concrete reports complete with critical analysis and recommendations on the grim prospects fomented by the settlers within the Mau.
UNEP asserts that owing to the nefarious climatic changes, Kenya stands to lose some $1.8 billion in revenue from tea; tourism and energy if the degradation of the Mau continues. When one brings into play the hydropolitics of the Mau within the East and Northern Africa geopolitics the losses are simply unquantifiable.
“A lot of research has been done into the loss of the Mau forests in the country. What UNEP has documented and brought to the attention of the government is that if the current trend continues, the whole forest ecosystem will be lost in the next 15 years. It is worth noting that 12 rivers arise from the ecosystem, flowing into Lakes Victoria, Nakuru, Natron and Turkana. So we are not talking about the forest area, but a whole series of benefits that millions of people derive from the forest ecosystem. When we consider their contribution to Kenya’s tea, tourism and power sectors, we estimate that $1.8 billion of annual revenue will be lost if the Mau forests are destroyed.” Steiner reveals.
This is not the first time evictions of the illegal settlers have been on the cards. In 2005 and even 2006 similar attempts were made to reclaim the depleted forest but political expediency reined in environmental concerns. Now times have changed.
Looking at the current saga from a global scale perhaps it is noteworthy to recognize that in December 2000 the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) issued The Global Trends 2015: A Dialogue about the Future dossier, which warned of widespread instability, “necessitated by a shortage of the single most contested resource in the planet – drinking water.” The key hotspots were named and one of them was the River Nile.
“By 2015 nearly half the world's population—more than 3 billion people—will live in countries that are "water-stressed"—have less than 1,700 cubic meters of water per capita per year—mostly in Africa, the Middle East, South Asia, and northern China. In the developing world, 80 percent of water usage goes into agriculture, a proportion that is not sustainable; and in 2015 a number of developing countries will be unable to maintain their levels of irrigated agriculture. Over pumping of groundwater in many of the world's important grain-growing regions will be an increasing problem; about 1,000 tons of water are needed to produce a ton of grain.” The CIA dossier approved by the National Intelligence Committee notes and hastens to add on the Nile: “Egypt is proceeding with a major diversion of water from the Nile, which flows from Ethiopia and Sudan, both of which will want to draw more water from the Nile for their own development by 2015. Water-sharing arrangements are likely to become more contentious.”
Already within the Nile Basin Initiative, whenever the issue of the Nile Treaty comes up, tempers flare.
For abetting corruption Kenya made a date with the grim realities of climate change. The results are not too pleasant. These are the harsh realities facing Kenya today for its costly gamble and endless political sensationalism with a strategic ecological reserve as the Mau. (ENDS)- [EDITOR'S NOTE: An abridged version of this article was first published in The East African]
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
GLOBAL COALITION FOR ICC COLLIDES WITH AU
New York - The Coalition for the International Criminal Court (CICC) – a civil society network in 150 countries advocating for a fair, effective and independent ICC – is deeply concerned by reports of an African Union (AU) summit declaration that instructs African states not to cooperate with the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the execution of the international arrest warrant for Omar Hassan Ahmad Al-Bashir, the president of Sudan, on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity. The 4 March 2009 decision requesting the arrest of Al-Bashir was made by an independent panel of ICC judges from Ghana, Latvia and Brazil.
The 3 July AU declaration, spearheaded by the Government of Sudan and current AU Chair and Libyan leader Mouammar Ghaddafi, contradicts the position taken by African ministers at a recent AU meeting from 8-9 June 2009 in Addis Ababa at which they reaffirmed their commitment to the integrity of the Rome Statute.
"We have heard from African government representatives to the 13th AU Summit in Sirte, Libya that there were extreme and unprecedented levels of intimidation and pressure by the host government and Chair," said William R. Pace, convenor of the Coalition for the ICC (CICC). "Foreign Ministers were reportedly furious with Mr. Ghaddafi’s interference in their meeting and negotiations that preceded the Head of State summit. We heard reports that ministers were threatened by Ghaddafi, emails censored, faxes blocked. Government representatives who might have objected to the text were prohibited from commenting on the declaration."
Pace added that "the AU declaration, if upheld, would leave AU leaders turning their back on African victims of massive crimes. As such, it does more to damage the reputation of the AU as an institution. Ultimately—and regardless of the AU’s declaration—international law prevails over declarations, ICC states parties still have a legal obligation to cooperate with the Court including to arrest and surrender all those for whom the Court issues a warrant."
The ICC calls on all ICC state parties in the AU to join government representatives like the foreign minister of Botswana who have clarified their intention to fulfil their legal obligations to the Rome Statute. Last month, just before the presidential inauguration, the South African government announced that national laws required they arrest Al-Bashir if he attended.
"We call on the government of South Africa to reiterate its pledge to cooperate with the Court in the arrest and surrender of Al-Bashir," said Oby Nwankwo, executive director of the Enugu, Nigeria-based Civil Resource and Documentation Center and CICC steering committee member.
Africa is the most heavily represented region at the Court: there are 43 African signatories to the Rome Statute, 30 African states parties that have ratified or acceded to the ICC treaty and approximately 20 African countries that have final or draft legislation that would incorporate Rome Statute crimes and/or enable cooperation with the Court in their national laws.
The International Criminal Court – the first permanent world court capable of trying individuals accused of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide when national courts are unable or unwilling to do so – is essential to the global fight against impunity. The input, involvement and support of the majority of African states has been vital to both the founding of the ICC and to its continued fair, effective and independent functioning.
"In the past decade alone, millions of Africans have lost their lives in conflicts and have been the target of grave crimes against them by their own leaders," said Steve Lamony, the Coalition’s outreach liaison for Africa and situations adviser. "By attempting to punish those responsible for these crimes, the Court is standing up for African victims and attempting to prevent the future occurrence of atrocities."
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Wednesday, November 12, 2008
THE LOITA FOREST CONUNDRUM
[NAIROBI 10TH NOVEMBER 2008, By John Mbaria] A PROJECT seeking to complement conservation efforts in the Loita forest of Kenya has been rejected by the Maasai Community along the Kenya / Tanzania border.
The project by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) covers the 330 sq km upland forest lying between the Nguruman / Magadi escarpment and the Maasai Mara National Reserve. Straddling the Kenya / Tanzania border, the largely Virgin forest has a wide diversity of vegetation and offers the local people not only timber and medical herbs, but also sites that continue to be of cultural and spiritual value to them.
According to a paper by IUCN, the Loita / Purko Naimina Enkiyio Forest Integrated Conservation and Development Project, it seeks to assist the community “to maintain the biodiversity and environmental values of the forest.’
Besides the clash of cultures that is behind the Loita Maasai’s opposition to a project that is meant to conserve the Naimina Enkiyio forest, the lion’s share of the Kshs200 million ($2.56 million ) EU grant for the project will go to salaries and allowances of IUCN workers and the purchase and maintenance of project vehicles and office equipment.
IUCN’s regional programme coordinator for East Africa, Dr Geoffrey Howard, defended the budget, saying that it was not “secretive” and had been prepared in accordance with the requirements of the main financier, the European Commission. He said IUCN had initially wanted to second two technical assistants to the project but changed it’s mind later. “In any case , the expatriate will be bringing his international experience to the project.”
As stated in it’s brief, the project is meant to complement the community’s efforts to conserve and manage forest.
But a number of the local people have come out to oppose it in a running row that observers say pits modern conservation science - as practised by IUCN - against the Loita people’s desire to maintain ownership and traditional management of the forest .
“This is a forest we have always fallen back on in times of calamity and for medicine “, said Vincent Ntekerei, a former lecturer at Narok Teachers Training College.
“We do not know IUCN’s real intention”, said another David Ole Kashu , who said that having managed the forest for hundreds of years the Loita are now opposed to what they feel is “outsider interference “.
Mr. Kashu and Mr Ntekerei belong to a group of largely educated and articulate local residents who, operating under the auspices of Concerned Citizens of Loita (CCL) - a loosely-organised body - have raised issue with the project.
During a public meeting held a month ago, speakers expressed the view that the locals should continue managing the forest “like we have always done for generations “.
They opposed IUCN’s proposed draft management plan for the forest. They said IUCN had participated in a project that ended up displacing communities around Ngorongoro in Tanzania in order to create a wildlife sanctuary there.
Dr Howard said, “It is true IUCN was involved in the development of a management plan in Ngorongoro in 1997 / 98.” But he said that the project, which was managed by the Ngorongoro Management Authority became problematic after the donor reduced project time, “which led to one group in the relevant community not being consulted”.
Consequently, said Dr Howard , the disgruntled group , “with the help of a foreign organisation,” produced a video and a report that “substantially damaged IUCN’s image”.
The CCL group has called for the suspension of the project despite the Narok District Development Committee giving it a go a head.
The survival of the forest at time when most other forest in Kenya have largely lost their tree cover is attributed to the traditional intervention that the community has adopted.
Besides hosting sites sacred to most members of the Maasai community in Kenya and Tanzania, the Loita area is the seat of the chief Laibon , Mokombo Ole Simel, who is said to be a direct descendant of the famous Laibon Mbatian. Ole Simel, who is reputed to possess mystical powers, presides over social events in the area.
The institution of the Laibon, says a UNESCO publication entitled “Ethnobotany of the Loita Maasai; Towards Community management of the Forest of the Lost Child” is central to the conservation of Loita Forest .
But there is growing concern that following changes in lifestyle within the community, the recent introduction of agriculture and external pressure, the forest is increasingly under threat.
“If there is no well-organised management system, then it will not be long before massive plunder of the forest begins”, said Dr Howard. IUCN says that already, the 40,000-strong community has increased it’s harvest of the forest, lead to a scarcity of tree species that the community uses for building and fencing.
This development is more is more prominent at the forest edges and is forcing community members to go deeper into the forest. [ENDS]
The project by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) covers the 330 sq km upland forest lying between the Nguruman / Magadi escarpment and the Maasai Mara National Reserve. Straddling the Kenya / Tanzania border, the largely Virgin forest has a wide diversity of vegetation and offers the local people not only timber and medical herbs, but also sites that continue to be of cultural and spiritual value to them.
According to a paper by IUCN, the Loita / Purko Naimina Enkiyio Forest Integrated Conservation and Development Project, it seeks to assist the community “to maintain the biodiversity and environmental values of the forest.’
Besides the clash of cultures that is behind the Loita Maasai’s opposition to a project that is meant to conserve the Naimina Enkiyio forest, the lion’s share of the Kshs200 million ($2.56 million ) EU grant for the project will go to salaries and allowances of IUCN workers and the purchase and maintenance of project vehicles and office equipment.
IUCN’s regional programme coordinator for East Africa, Dr Geoffrey Howard, defended the budget, saying that it was not “secretive” and had been prepared in accordance with the requirements of the main financier, the European Commission. He said IUCN had initially wanted to second two technical assistants to the project but changed it’s mind later. “In any case , the expatriate will be bringing his international experience to the project.”
As stated in it’s brief, the project is meant to complement the community’s efforts to conserve and manage forest.
But a number of the local people have come out to oppose it in a running row that observers say pits modern conservation science - as practised by IUCN - against the Loita people’s desire to maintain ownership and traditional management of the forest .
“This is a forest we have always fallen back on in times of calamity and for medicine “, said Vincent Ntekerei, a former lecturer at Narok Teachers Training College.
“We do not know IUCN’s real intention”, said another David Ole Kashu , who said that having managed the forest for hundreds of years the Loita are now opposed to what they feel is “outsider interference “.
Mr. Kashu and Mr Ntekerei belong to a group of largely educated and articulate local residents who, operating under the auspices of Concerned Citizens of Loita (CCL) - a loosely-organised body - have raised issue with the project.
During a public meeting held a month ago, speakers expressed the view that the locals should continue managing the forest “like we have always done for generations “.
They opposed IUCN’s proposed draft management plan for the forest. They said IUCN had participated in a project that ended up displacing communities around Ngorongoro in Tanzania in order to create a wildlife sanctuary there.
Dr Howard said, “It is true IUCN was involved in the development of a management plan in Ngorongoro in 1997 / 98.” But he said that the project, which was managed by the Ngorongoro Management Authority became problematic after the donor reduced project time, “which led to one group in the relevant community not being consulted”.
Consequently, said Dr Howard , the disgruntled group , “with the help of a foreign organisation,” produced a video and a report that “substantially damaged IUCN’s image”.
The CCL group has called for the suspension of the project despite the Narok District Development Committee giving it a go a head.
The survival of the forest at time when most other forest in Kenya have largely lost their tree cover is attributed to the traditional intervention that the community has adopted.
Besides hosting sites sacred to most members of the Maasai community in Kenya and Tanzania, the Loita area is the seat of the chief Laibon , Mokombo Ole Simel, who is said to be a direct descendant of the famous Laibon Mbatian. Ole Simel, who is reputed to possess mystical powers, presides over social events in the area.
The institution of the Laibon, says a UNESCO publication entitled “Ethnobotany of the Loita Maasai; Towards Community management of the Forest of the Lost Child” is central to the conservation of Loita Forest .
But there is growing concern that following changes in lifestyle within the community, the recent introduction of agriculture and external pressure, the forest is increasingly under threat.
“If there is no well-organised management system, then it will not be long before massive plunder of the forest begins”, said Dr Howard. IUCN says that already, the 40,000-strong community has increased it’s harvest of the forest, lead to a scarcity of tree species that the community uses for building and fencing.
This development is more is more prominent at the forest edges and is forcing community members to go deeper into the forest. [ENDS]
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