By Catherine Yaa
This year’s World Wetlands Day was marked amidst a glooming picture on the state of the Wetlands in Kenya. To aptly put this into perspective, the celebrations here were held at the Kihoto grounds, an area that used to be part of Lake Naivasha but dried up. Ironically, Lake Naivasha has been listed as one of the Ramsar Sites, a yardstick in measuring the importance of a wetland.
The Iranian city of Ramsar is where the Convention on Wetlands was adopted on 2nd February 1971 and emphasizes the wise use and sustainable management of wetlands and their resources. Kenya ratified this convention in 1990 and has up to date designated five wetlands of national and international importance as Ramsar sites; Lakes Naivasha, Nakuru, Baringo, Bogoria and Elementaita.
The celebrations were preceded with a set of activities that built it up, all aimed at raising public awareness on wetlands biodiversity and climate change. They included a stakeholder panel discussion talking about the impact of urbanization and urban development on wetlands, media participation through radio and TV talk shows and newspaper supplement covering issues on Wetlands. All these were intended to sensitize the public on the role, values and benefits of Wetlands and the threats that abound to these fragile ecosystems.
EAWLS, through the Kenya Wetlands Forum (KWF) and Kenya Forests Working Group (KFWG), played an active role in sponsoring and participating in the event.