Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Environment
The consequences may equally be felt on tea production in the region surrounding Mount Kenya
and the Mau escarpment. Forests serve to reduce the gap of temperatures between night and day.
The consequences are potentially huge for tea growers as temperatures at night risk falling below
zero Celsius.
The extensive destruction further manifests negative long-term impacts such as disrupting wildlife
habitat and destroying biodiversity. In turn these would lead to impaired tourism development.
While savannas are home to the more familiar wildlife species that attract tourists, forest
ecosystems provide the habitat for a large proportion of the country's biological diversity.
Tree planting has increased in farmland regions over the past years, a KEFRI spokesman told IRIN.
Individual farms have been planting wood for their own needs, while bigger farms have planted
wood for commercial purposes. However no study has yet been undertaken of the contribution
made by agroforestry in alleviating pressure on indigenous forest reserves, Christian Lambrechts of
the Kenya Forestry Working Group added.
The danger posed by the destruction of Kenya's indigenous forests is great. A substantial proportion
of the Kenyan population lives in the vicinity of forests, while these cover only two to three percent
of Kenyan soil. In a report published by the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS), the head of the Civil
Service and former KWS director, Richard Leakey, warned that although Kenya is best known as a
land of arid or semi-arid habitats with little forest, it "cannot afford to watch the remaining natural
forests being destroyed. The forests are a national asset that must be protected".
Their importance in the regulation of climate, water catchments and biodiversity are
disproportionate in comparison to their percentage of the territory.
A spokesman for the UN Environmental Programme (UNEP) said the solution lies in recognising
the environmental services rendered by ecosystems. He told IRIN there was a need "for a proper
conservation of the indigenous forest, better management of forest plantations, and a more
environmentally-friendly energy policy".