Mau invaded again!!

Posted from Standard by naftal

Destruction and encroachment into the Mau Forests is creating concern among conservationists four months after President Uhuru Kenyatta took office. More settlements have sprung up in the last 100 days and logging is going on in the 400,000-hectare Mau Forest, the largest water tower in East Africa. Conservationists are worried that the Kenyatta administration is not keen on protecting forests and the general environment.

Immediately, he was declared the President-elect, people who laid no claim over the controversial water catchment tower trooped in as Government functionaries and the Kenya Forest Service (KFS) watched helplessly. “Efforts to save Mau Forest will not succeed.

The issue has become political with those responsible for protecting it shying away. It will now become much difficult to evict thousands of squatters who have invaded it because when elections will be called again, they will be needed because of ‘tyranny of numbers’,” says Nick Murero, the Mara-Serengeti Ecosystem Coordinator for Lake Victoria Basin.

He says since the beginning of the year, more settlements have sprung up around the Mau complex and unhindered logging continued. Murero said arrests, prosecutions and warnings have not hindered the encroachment.

Conservationists are asking themselves if the situation could have been different had CORD leaderRaila Odinga clinched the presidency.

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40,000 hectares of Mau forest recovered

By naftal

MORE than 40,000 hectares of Mau forest land that had been destroyed has been rehabilitated by the government. Kenya Water Tower Agency Director Francis Ole Nkako said the government is at an advanced stage of profiling a list of individuals who had genuine title deeds for compensation.

He was speaking on Saturday at Ololulunga in Narok county during the launch of Maasai-Mau Marathon dubbed ‘Race to save the Maasai-Mau forest.’

Nkako was accompanied by UNEP Programme Manager Dr Richard Kaguamba, Kenya Forests Working Group Project Officer Jackson Bambo and Cyrus Kimamo, board member of Green Belt Movement.

“It is worth noting that there has been an increase in the water levels in the Mara River because of concerted efforts by different stakeholders in restoring the Mau ecosystem,”  he said.

He said the agency has carried out several sensitisation meetings with the locals on the need to take control and co-ordinate conservation efforts in their areas.

Nkako said the agency in collaboration with the Narok county government has begun introducing bamboo trees to farmers to deter them from destroying forest trees.

He revealed that over 10,000 title deeds have been voluntarily surrendered by those who had invaded the forest. Bambo said several Community Based Integrated Forest Resource Conservation and Management projects have been implemented with the aim of facilitating, creating and strengthening institutions and management structures.

“The government of Spain through UNEP has funded KFWG in creating a favourable environment for policy and forest law implementation. It has also helped managers of Mau forest and local communities to shift from unsustainable land management practices in around the Maasai-Mau forest,” said Bambo.

He said the marathon was used to raise awareness on issues surrounding Maasai-Mau forest conservation efforts. The event was for participants to acknowledge the role the local communities adjacent to the forest can play in ensuring the well-being of the larger Mau ecosystem