Nairobi - Extensive forest
fires are affecting several of Kenya's key
moisture reservoirs including the 400,000-hectare
Mau Forest Complex, Kenya's largest forest
and the source of water for at least twelve
rivers. Important Rift Valley Lakes, including
Lake Victoria, the source of the River Nile,
depend on the rivers which are fed from
the forest.
Noor Hassan Noor, the
Rift Valley Provincial Commissioner said
that between 25 and 35 per cent of the eastern
Mau forest has been lost so far as a result
of the fire.
Commenting on the situation,
the co-ordinator of the UNEP-Kenya country
program Henry Ndede , said "the forest
fires will interfere with the already existing
effects of deforestation. There will be
changes in micro-climate that influence
tea growing and other agricultural activities
in the region and loss of topsoil transported
as silt in the rivers during the rainy season
will interfere with fish breeding in major
Kenyan lakes."
In addition, Kenya's
energy sector is suffering. A $260 million
dollar hydro-electricity project was stopped
because it was designed to depend on water
from the forest complex. If the forest continues
to be denuded the Mara River will also dry
up, leaving large populations and rare wild
animals at the mercy of drought.
In the next few days
the Kenya Forest Working Group, of which
UNEP is a partner, will put forward a series
of recommendations to the Kenyan government,
which will suffer losses of more than $300
million dollars a year from the tourism,
tea and energy sectors if the forest continues
to deplete.
Anne Kahihia, assistant
director in charge of the affected area
for the Kenya Wildlife Service, spoke to
UNEP after visiting communities living on
the burning forest's edge. "The Masaii
there are not happy," she said. "They
are having a big problem. All their rivers
have dried up. The kids talk in Masaii about
when the water was pure and clean and the
water was sacred."
Kenya's normally most
visited national park, Lake Nakuru Park,
is also in danger. The forest should act
as a sponge, regulating the flow of water
into the lake from its source in Mau. But
farming and an increased population are
making the quality and quantity of water
entering the lake unstable.
Kenya's minister for
forests and wildlife, Dr Noah Wekesa told
the media that the forest fires come at
a time when the Kenyan government is deliberating
how best to manage the forest, which is
one of the country's five water towers.
With the forest intact,
up to 60 per cent of Kenya's energy could
be harnessed from the additional water flows,
which could be crucial if Kenya is to survive
any rises in oil prices.
