Reversing Mau plunder is not a walk in the park

It was the best of Kenya; it was also the worst of the country. On the one hand, we were awed by some of the most conserved forests whose cool sensation and serenity evoked the aura of the pristine age when man and nature were at perfect peace with each other.

But we also came face to face with parts of the Mau Complex so depleted it offends the mind to call it a forest, and tree stumps that stick out from the ground for kilometres so grotesque they should prick the collective conscience of the nation that allowed the senseless destruction to go on for so long.

IRREVERSIBLE

As we drove back to Nairobi after a one-week tour of the region talking to settlers, leaders and officials, the question of conservation occupied our minds.

How will a plunder so systematic and devastating be reversed? How, for instance, can the October 19, 2001 excision — perhaps the largest and the most daring land grab in Kenya’s history — that saw 61,586.5 hectares of virgin forest go in one fell swoop be returned? And what will happen to the hapless victims now settled in these areas? 

As early as 10 years ago, a report, Rehabilitation of the Mau Forest Ecosystem, was already warning that it was only a matter of time before the entire ecosystem was irreversibly damaged with significant socio-economic consequences to the country and the region.   

River flow regulation, water storage, biodiversity, carbon sequestration and microclimate regulation are just some of the benefits of the country’s largest water tower and its destruction has reduced its power to blunt the impact of climate change.

Several task forces have recommended ways to stop further degradation of the Mau Forest Complex, but political expediency has always trumped the long-term good of the nation. Their call for the relocation of the people residing in the forests faced stiff opposition and a malleable government, which see-saws depending on the political weather, has often winked at loggers and encroachers.

RECLAIMING

“There is a need to remove all the exotic species in the wetlands and catchment areas. This will help restore the water table, leading to normal recharge of rivers and an increase in water levels. The community will benefit from the ecosystem’s self-regeneration,” says Mr Joseph Towett, an advocate of the rights of the Ogiek, a forest-dwelling community dispossessed by the degradation.

Former Bomet Governor Isaac Ruto, who was Environment minister in the dying days of the Moi administration, believes bamboo holds the key to the reclamation of Mau. One of the most profitable trees on the planet, bamboo is a grass that grows three times faster than the eucalyptus, reaching maturity in three years. It is also a self-regenerating tree with new branches shooting up annually and can be harvested after every two years for up to 40 years.

“These folks (settlers) can live in half acres and create a new bamboo economy,” Mr Ruto says. “I remember we had initiated talks at that time with my technocrats, then led by then Permanent Secretary Francis Muthaura, and there were corporations from Malaysia and other Asian tigers that were ready to work with us.”

Mr Ruto believes settlers can coexist with bamboo. Whether continued settlement is a viable conservation measure can be debated, but the bamboo is broadly embraced by conservationists.

LENIENT

Then there is the human aspect that the government has to address to ensure it doesn’t blot the restoration efforts. Already, human rights activists have faulted the manner in which evictions were carried out in the first phase of Maasai Mau last year, and in the recent evictions before they were halted.

Human Rights Watch, an NGO, believes governments have the responsibility to ensure compensation for displaced communities, irrespective of whether they hold title deeds or not.

“In efforts to preserve the Mau Forest, the government has conducted evictions in an abusive, unlawful manner, and isn’t following its own guidelines,” said Otsieno Namwaya, senior Africa researcher at Human Rights Watch.

The government has ruled out compensation, a stance that will not go down well with settlers as well as some politicians and human rights activists. “You cannot pay people for crime. In fact, the government is being lenient. In normal circumstances, it jails people for crime,” Environment CS Keriako Tobiko said on August 18.

Prosecuting perpetrators of the forest’s plunder and fighting corruption in government, especially in the ministries of Land and Environment and in the National Land Commission, is key in ending the mindless Mau mayhem, experts advise.

60-DAY NOTICE

“If you punish only the small people, what will stop future leaders from perpetrating the same ill? If, for instance, you arrest drivers engaged in logging, and leave errant Kenya Forest Service officers who are supposed to guard the resource, what will stop them from engaging in logging?” nominated MP David Sankok poses.

Environmentalist Isaac Kalua wants government officers who facilitated the excisions put to account “whether they are retired or not”. The former Kenya Water Towers Agency chairman says the future of Mau hinges on “creating sustainable livelihoods for communities.”

Prof Meitamei Olol Dapash, a longtime advocate of conservation and indigenous rights, wants Maasai Mau fenced off once recovered, a task he believes can be supported by the United Nations Environment Programme, the World Bank and the European Union.

From the ongoing talks at the United Nations headquarters in New York, where pressure to tackle global warming is palpable, to the raging fires in the Amazon, climate change is ravaging the world, and Kenya can do its bit to mitigate the effects.

The government has lined up evictions scheduled for the end of next month when a 60-day notice issued earlier will elapse. How it handles them as well as treat the other blocks threatened by charcoal burning, logging and human settlement remains to be seen, but one thing is clear: Mau and other water towers need to be restored and a lasting measure adopted to safeguard them.