Inside SWARA 2010 : 3

David Western, Founder and Chairman of the African Conservation Centre (ACC) ponders the future of the Amboseli ecosystem in the wake of the 2009 drought in Kenya in The Worst Drought: Tipping Point or Turning Point for Amboseli?

EAWLS Council member Esmond Bradley Martin teams up with Lucy Vigne to discuss the Controversy at CITES Conference in Quatar as they enlighten readers on the winners and losers of CITES CoP15.

Lionel Murage, Halinishi Yusuf, Steve Trott and Simon Hemphill weigh the benefits and pitfalls of ring nets on Kenya’s coast and its people as they ask, Ring Net Fishing: Money Maker or Scourge of the Sea?

Kevin Doyle, in his piece, Saving Kenya’s Last Coastal Wilderness by Defending Residents Rights explains how plans to protect the rights of Lamu’s traditional residents can support conservation goals.

With his piece on Pastoralism: Breaking the Opinion Mould, Curtis Abraham queries the popular and official wisdom that nomads can destroy the habitat.

Rhino expert Felix Patton hails Solio: The Heartbeat of Rhino Conservation for 40 Years for it’s part in breeding and protecting this species.

John Frederick Walker is the bearer of good news as Angola’s Giant Sable Makes a Triumphant Comeback from the grips of extinction.

The Spotlight shines on various great stories including that in which Brian Finch and Nigel Hunter return from Lamu with a new find – Erlanger’s Boubou: A New Species for Kenya and East Africa. A hilarious account of an escapatologist chimpanzee also catches the spotlight as Diana Hunter issues notice – WANTED: One of Our Chimps is Missing followed by The Curious Incident o the Giraffe in the Nighttime narrated by Zoe Muller. Putting a cap on the Spotlight is the issue of climate change as Colin Beale demonstrates how Climate Change Affects Tanzania Bird Distribution.

Exceptional photographer Paolo Torchio captures the wealth of wildlife roaming free not far from Kenya’s smoggy, hectic capital in the aptly named photo spread, Capital Clicks, while Elinor Ostrom: A Nobel Prize for Local Communities is Esther Mwangi’s glowing tribute to a former teacher and pioneer of work in social behaviour.

Meanwhile, Atticus English admires a beautiful selection of wildlife photos in a heavy, rich volume titled The Journey Within in Book Review as Paolo Torchio fittingly shares a photographic dusk with a bold sparrowhawk on his balcony in Sundown with Sparrowhawk.

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EAWLS is supporting a tree planting initiative by Kenya Association of Manufacturers (KAM) and Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) aimed at marking the boundary of the Nairobi National Park to protect it from encroachment and pollution.

Dubbed The Nairobi Greenline and launched on June 5, 2010 to commemorate World Environment Day, the project targets to plant 250,000 indigenous trees covering 30 kms from the area between Athi River town to the Carnivore Restaurant on Langata Road.

All people who attended the event wore the Greenline t-shirt, stood together and held hands to make a line to symbolize the fence. An overhead camera from a chopper recorded the human chain and was extensively covered by the media.

The initiative is part of the industry’s response to climate change and environmental concerns. Through this initiative, 750,000 more trees are expected to be planted in other greenlines countrywide over the next five years.

Deputy Director, Michael Gachanja represented EAWLS at the launch.

Close to 10 million people, three million of them pastoralists, are at risk of starvation in the Horn and East African Region due to adverse effects of climate change in the region, according to U.N. and other agencies.

Drought is threatening lives and livelihoods of pastoralists, they said. This is due to combination of factors including environmental degradation, resource-based conflicts, changing land tenures, poor governance and restrictive cross-border policies.

At the launch of the Security in Mobility (SIM) initiative at a Nairobi Hotel, the UN Humanitarian Co-ordinator for Somalia, Mark Bowden, said the SIM approach for intervention calls for urgent action by governments to assist pastoralists mitigate the effects and save livelihoods.

A report on an 18-month SIM consultative assessment says that climate change has resulted in unpredictable and extreme weather patterns and influences movement patterns of pastoralist communities. There are increased levels of migration as pastoralists search for scarce pasture and water, often resulting in conflicts over scarce resources.

Jeanine Cooper of United Nations office of the Co-ordination of Humanitarian affairs (UNOCHA) points out that pastoralists are facing numerous challenges with rains failing to come when expected, lands parched and unable to support livelihoods, neighbours in conflicts over scarce resources, populations displaced through loss of livelihoods from drought, and policies that undermine their capacity to manage climate change.

“These pastoralists’ voices are also clear that natural hazards by themselves do not cause disasters; it is the combination of factors – climate change, inappropriate policies and lack of basic services and infrastructure – that turns droughts and other climatic hazards into major emergencies,” said Cooper

SIM asked regional governments to come up with systematic approach to address security of pastoralist communities as they move across borders in search for water and pasture. A call was also made to forge partnerships so as respond to challenges faced by pastoralists.

SIM is an initiative of United Nations Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs, International Organization for Migration and the Institute for Security Studies. Its objectives are to advocate for regional cross-border security needs to be reconciled with pastoralists’ livelihood needs for access to water and pasture, support regional governments to develop a regional normative framework on migration and mobility for pastoralists to enhance cross-border security and to facilitate pastoralists’ mobility as a climate change adaptation.

The killing of two lions which had attacked residents of Athi River on June 22, 2010 has brought back the focus on human-wildlife conflict.

The lions had strayed from the nearby Nairobi National Park and killed three heads of cattle and the residents killed the marauding lions in retaliation.

In a news clip aired in a local TV station, a woman whose cattle were attacked lamented, “They have now taken from us what was left from the drought!”

“Let the government put back the lions where they belong to stop the frequent attacks otherwise we’ll have to protect our lives and that of our livestock by killing the lions!” added yet another angry resident.

The Kenya Wildlife Service estimates the total number of lions in Kenya as 2000. Yet with more attacks such as this one and with the recent cases of poisoning using Furadan (a very powerful and toxic insecticide which destroys bugs in the ground and is taken up by plants and kills insects which feed on the sap or foliage), this number is deemed to reduce drastically. Almost all communities surrounding the Nairobi National Park have problems with wildlife. Lions either eat their cattle or other herbivores compete with their livestock for grassland.

This has resulted in the communities not seeing the benefit of wildlife. This is true because to them, wildlife cause problems and rip them off their valued resources; cattle and crops. For instance, how does one tell a farmer that has lost cattle to lions or whose crops have been destroyed to support conservation programmes when the wild animals only deprive them of their livelihoods?

Lions are being killed at an alarming rate. With the recent prolonged drought, there has been a reduction in the prey to feed on such as antelopes, gazelles, wildebeest, hence lions are leaving protected areas to hunt for livestock particularly in the Masai land which mainly border lion habitats. When lions raid cattle, the herdsmen retaliate to avenge the lions’ eating of their one important means of survival.

So, how can such communities be assisted while at the same time save the lions? Is compensation for loss of cattle a solution? From pilot projects such as the one in Mbirikani Group Ranch by the name Mbirikani Predator Compensation Fund (PCF), it has been observed that if the health and livelihood of the community is secured, there’s a greater chance to protect the lions. By compensating for cattle losses immediately, the pressure to kill lions as a form of retaliation is alleviated.

This principle could be applied in Athi River since it has been determined that areas where there’s no compensation program, there is significant greater lion kills by local tribespeople. For example, in an area around Mbirikani around 20 lions were killed yearly in retaliation. The implementation of the PCF resulted in eighteen months without a single incident.

Another solution to helping communities in regard to lion attacks as suggested by National Geographic is through education efforts and conservation awareness. Despite such solutions being in place, there are still incidences of lions being killed as is the case that happened on 22 June 2010. The big question is: is it possible for a victim of attack to watch a lion attack several heads of cattle without taking action because he or she will be compensated?

A recent KFWG and media tour of Mt. Elgon, Cherangani Hills and Shamanek Forests in mid-June revealed that a presidential ban on logging of indigenous trees has largely been ignored.

There is also illegal grazing, charcoal burning and encroachment into forest land for farming attributed to lack of clear-cut forest boundaries. Many people have settled in critical watershed areas, therefore posing a threat to their livelihoods.  In some areas, they have witnessed landslides in recent months as a result of deforestation in steep areas.

The June 10-15 mission findings revealed extensive indigenous forest destruction of endangered tree species such as Podo, Prunus aficana, Cedar and Elgon Teak. The investigation further revealed that majority of community members still perceive the forests as government property and lack a sense of ownership. Increased poverty and settlement on land adjacent to the forests has increasing pressure on the forests.

Marking of forest boundaries, KFWG states, is among the most effective options in stemming encroachment into forest land. The lack of these markings has significantly contributed to human and agricultural encroachment inside forest lands. It is the clear demarcation of national parks that has enabled the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) to largely contain encroachment into national parks. The same can be done for forests to ensure that boundaries of all forests are clearly marked and respected.

Political will in co-managing forests with communities are prerequisites to ensure effective implementation of the Forests Act 2005.

Kenya Forests Working Group (KFWG) is searching for solutions that meet human needs for food, timber, medicine and income while protecting Kenya’s forests.

It is worth noting that as a result of this tour and subsequent coverage in the local media, the provincial administration has moved in to dialogue with the communities to encourage them to vacate the settled forests and further involve them in their management.

To mark World Environment Day on June 5, Kenya Forests Working Group (KFWG), with other organisations, joined residents of a Nairobi slum in cleaning up their neighbourhood.

KFWG, with partner organisations Queens Health Outreach and Youth Empowerment Strategic Scheme, pitched camp at Kayole and participated in various activities to mark the day with the theme “Many Species. One Planet.”

Participants were reminded of the need to give back to nature by keeping the environment clean. With this, the enthusiasm to clean their “hood” among the residents went a notch higher and promptly embarked on the exercise.

Cleaning the environment was not the only event on the programme. Queens Health Outreach (QHO), a Canadian-based organisation, provided Voluntary Counselling and Testing (VCT) of HIV/AIDS, an exercise that attracted many who had never had the opportunity to get such a service.

Tree planting stole the show as over 100 trees were planted, thanks to the generous contribution of donors and partner organisations. Special mention goes to Green Africa Foundation for their contribution to make the event more successful.

As we celebrated the environment day, and indeed recognising this year as the year of biodiversity, what is your personal strategy to making the earth a better place?

The East African Wild Life Society (EAWLS), through the Tupande Pamoja Initiative, joined Baraget community in Mau Forest last month to launch a project on forest restoration and peace.

Under the theme Peace and Environment, the event sought to link conservation of the environment  with peace among local communities. The area was among many others that were heavily affected by Kenya’s post-election violence in December 2007 and January 2008.

With support from the Community Development Trust Fund (CDTF) and Community Environment Facility (CEF), the colourful event brought more than 400 participants who included students from local schools, local leaders, the provincial administration, the District Peace Committee, youth leaders and many others

Most of the speakers emphasised the need for conservation of the forest and maintenance of peace among the residents of Kuresoi District. The leaders  regretted the impact of post election violence on the environment. They noted that the forests were highly exploited and destroyed as some residents took advantage of the chaos to cut trees.

The elderly people expressed their worry at the rate at which the forest cover is changing in recent times. They appealed for tolerance, good neighbourliness and understanding among the communities.

Baraget forest is one of the forests of the upper Mara catchment and is about 4,016 hectares. It is mostly covered by indigenous trees and partly by plantation. It has some areas that need to be planted with more trees. Just like many other forests in the country, it is a source of fuel wood and water for the local communities; and grazing area among many other uses.

The Community Forest Association (CFA) members vowed to work with the local leaders to maintain peace while participating in the conservation of the forest. They requested the Kenya Forest Service to allocate them sites for rehabilitation. More than 30 hectares are available for this exercise.

Tupande Pamoja is a joint initiative by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), EAWLS, Kenya Forests Working Group (KFWG) and Nature Kenya in collaboration with the Kenya Forest Service (KFS) aimed at forging partnership between public/private corporations or institutions and local communities to rehabilitate Kenya’s forested water catchments.

Conservationists worldwide are protesting against the planned building of a highway across the Serengeti National Park by the Tanzanian government, citing destabilization of the Wildebeest migration, a major tourist attraction and one of the wonders of the world.

The proposed two-lane highway is directly on the path of their migration routes to and from the Maasai Mara Reserve in neighbouring Kenya and this has serious ramifications for the wildlife ecosystem in both reserves, besides the obvious dwindling revenue from tourists.

The Frankfurt Zoological Society says the highway will have a direct negative impact on the ecology, wildlife migration, wilderness, security and outstanding universal value of the Serengeti Park. Traffic will result in an increasing toll on human life and equipment through vehicle–wildlife collisions. These losses, the German institute says, will force Tanzania government to consider fencing and this would mean the end of the Great Migration as the wildebeests, zebras and elands cannot reach their only water source in the dry season, the Mara River, and would die at the fence-line. It says Botswana lost its wildebeest and zebra migration with such fences.

There are also fears that with the ease of access into the park, there would be widespread poaching and the transport of animals would spread diseases.

Suggestions have been made to construct the road to the south of the Serengeti to avoid disrupting the migration to Maasai Mara reserve which borders the park to the North.

Latest reports indicate that the Tanzanian Parliament wants the government to find an alternative route in its intention to build the tarmac road through the Serengeti. According to UK’s Guardian of July 6, Tanzania’s minister for Environment and Tourism has responded, saying all requirements would be fulfilled before considering constructing the highway.

Deputy Director, EAWLS

Two weeks ago, I expressed concerns over large scale growing of Jatropha in marginal land, comprising 50,000 hectares of the Dakatcha woodlands. Other organisations share the same concerns, which were expressed at a public hearing.  By then, we did not know that our opposing the project would not be taken kindly by those supporting the project. On July 2, 2010, an ugly and nasty incident apparently ochestrated by those in favour of the project aimed at silencing anybody with a divergent view occured at Dakatcha where staff of Nature Kenya and journalists were physically attacked. During this incident, people were injured and a car damaged. Nobody carrying out the assault was arrested. It appears that the company together with  the local government and local administration are determined to move on with the project at all costs. On several occasions, I have emphasized that we should all support development if we are to achieve vision 2030, BUT, any development that undermines social, economic and environmental dimensions   should not be supported. We certainly should not be supporting projects that result into intimidation of opponents.

On many occasions, it has been brought to the attention of the public and the policy makers that the setting aside of 50,000 hectares of the woodland will have social implications as it will deprive local communities of their land rights and deny access to a resource that has supported their livelihood for decades. The Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report that is under discussion clearly indicates that 70% of the trust land being requested is already settled. Since I last wrote (see the Nairobi Star Newspaper of June 4th) and even before the EIA report and National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) licence process has been completed, the proponents of the undertaking, the Italian–owned Kenya Jatropha Energy Limited had initiated the process of clearing some of Dakatcha Woodland and implementing the growing of Jatropha with the apparent tacit support of the Malindi County Council. Under the Environment Coordination and Management Act that provides for EIA, no development should be initiated on projects requiring the undertaking of EIA like this one before an EIA report is approved by NEMA and a license issued. We surely should not be supporting projects that break the law. Several meetings were held in the month of June convened by the District Environment Committte and the clerk of the Malindin County Council on the setting aside of the land. The intention is to privatise 50,000 hectares despite the Council holding the land in trust for the people. We are concerned that the speed at which the process is driven leaves no doubt that the Council would want the entire process completed before a New Constitution is enacted since under the New Constitution, the setting aside may be complicated by creation of new government structures such as counties and the Land Commission.

Growing of Jatropha in Dakatcha is not economically viable. Recent research information by well respected national and international instutitions namely the Kenya Forestry Research Institute (KEFRI) and the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) with support from German Technical Cooperation (GTZ),   indicate that Jatropha in Kenya so far produces an average of 0.6kg of oil per plant per year compared to the 4 to 6kg it is promoted to achieve in marginal areas. This Jatropha Reality Check  report (February 2010) also states that all current Jatropha initiatives in arid and semi arid Kenya have failed becuase of the enormous amounts of water and soil nutrients required by the plant. For the Dakatcha Jatropha project to be commercially viable, a total of 130 boreholes would be needed. Add the costs of bringing this water to the surface and costs of irrigation. A cost benefit anaysis would suggest that this project is not viable. Nobody even knows whether the ground acquifer would be able to replenish the boreholes since no studies have so far been done.

On environmental grounds, replacement of the Dakatcha woodland with Jatropha contradicts Government’s efforts to fight climate change and in water catchment and biodiversity conservation. Replacement of the woodland with Jatropha will have a net effect of releasing large amounts of carbon to the atmosphere  since compared to the woodland, the capacity to store carbon in Jatropha is low. Daktacha is the possible breeding ground for an endemic bird, the Clarkes Weaver and forms an important water catchment area that supports the livelihood of the local community.

It is these social, economic and environmental considerations that have been ignored by those promoting the project.  And we all should deplore those who try to get their own way by subverting the implementation of the processes required by the Environmental Management and Coordination Act (EMCA) and by trying to intimidate those who present valid arguments as to why the project proposal may be badly flawed.

This article appeared in the Nairobi Star Newspaper of July 8, 2010

By Michael Gachanja

Diverse opinions have been given on the cultivation of Jatropha as a bio-fuel plant in marginal areas. Those promoting its growing say that it is a wonder plant that will alleviate poverty, but they fail to provide information on what is required for the plant to produce commercially viable oil quantities, despite the fact that such information is publicly available.

The most recent information, published by the German Technical Cooperation (GTZ), and generated by researchers in Kenya drawn from World Agroforestry Centre, Endelevu Energy and the Kenya Forestry Research Institute (KEFRI) indicate that Jatropha produces a partly average of 0.6kg of oil per plant per year compared to the 4 to 6 kg it is promoted to achieve. Surely, this is not economically a viable crop and may be the reason why Jatropha projects in Kenya and the region are failing. This Jatropha Reality Check February 2010 report strongly recommends that Jatropha as a bio-fuel plant should not be promoted in marginal areas since all current initiatives in arid and semi arid Kenya have failed because of the enormous amounts of water and soil nutrients required by the plant. These are the facts that proponents of Jatropha fail to share, an indication that there may be other motives in promoting the plant.

My opinon is that when large areas are leased for Jatropha cultivation, empty promises are being made on how local communities will raise their income and benefit from other developments such as schools, roads and hospitals in the area while the motive of the developer is to get a lease and once the Jatropha project fails, use the land for other uses. If I am right, this amounts to conning people of their land and land rights. It may be possible that this is what is happening in Malindi where an Italian company is trying to lease 50,000 hectares (120,000 acres of land) in the Dakatcha woodland for the growing of the plant.   The proposed land requested for the cultivation is currently a trust land and under the custodianship of the County Council of Malindi.  Demarcation of the land and an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) has been done.  According to the EIA report (which is still under review), 70% of the land requested, is currently settled and includes the Dakatcha woodlands. This disputes the initial statement by the project proponent that the targeted land is empty with no settlements. When this issues were recently brought out in a public hearing called by National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) to discuss the EIA on 20^th May, local communities started realizing that the lease would deprive them of their land and started opposing the project. On the viability of the project and on the reasons given above, the EAI recommending the growing of Jatropha to be done in a phased approach that would first targeting few hectares of land. The move to go for a 50,000 hectare lease seems to contradict this recommendation. On the issue of water, it has been established that for the project to be viable, a total of 130 boreholes are needed for the 50,000 ha. No studies have so far been done on whether the ground acquifer would be able to replenish the boreholes.

The EIA report for this project states that no part of the cultivation area under Jatropha shall include or be in close proximity to Dakatcha woodlands. However, even before the EIA process is completed, the proponent has moved to the ground and started cutting the woodlands. In this era of climate change, it is ridiculous to replace Dakatcha woodlands with a crop that does not have the capacity to store large quantities of carbon. The net effect is the release of large amounts of carbon by cutting Dakatcha woodlands to the atmosphere. Certainly, a climate change sensitive government should not allow this to happen.  It has been suggested that the woodland is the breeding grounds of an endemic bird, the Clarkes Weaver and forms an important water catchment area that local community depend upon. The needs of these people must not be taken for granted. I would advice that in promoting such a crop with all the information available, let us use science and economics to guide development and let environmental protection consciousness, recognition of people’s needs and rights and precautionary measures prevail.