Underlying Causes of Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Kenya

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Underlying Causes of Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Kenya

. Situation analysis

Kenya's forests are rapidly declining due to pressure from increased population and other land uses. With half of the country being arid and semi-arid, there is a lot of strain on the rest of the land since the economy is natural resource based. The productive area which forms about 20% of the country's area falls in the medium and high potential agro-ecological zones and is under agriculture, forest and nature reserves. According to Forest Resource Assessment FAO 1990, Kenya is classified among the countries with low forest cover of less than 2% of the total land area. The dwindling forest cover has a severe effect on the climate, wildlife, streams, human population especially forest dwellers.

.1 Introduction

Mau Forest Complex is located in the Rift Valley province, about 200 km to the south-west of Nairobi and straddles four Districts: Kericho, Nakuru, Bomet, and Narok. It lies in the montane rain forest region which has a good potential for closed-canopy growth. The forest contains the largest remaining block of moist indigenous forest in East Africa covering an area of 900 km².

The forest is gazetted and is under the managerial custody of the State's Forest Department. It was first gazetted in 1932 by the colonial government. Many alterations to the forest cover have taken place since it was first gazetted. These have resulted from excisions, additions, and boundary alterations.

Bioregion

The Mau forest is situated on the Mau escarpments in the Great Rift Valley. It forms the upper catchments of Sondu, Mara and Ewaso Ngiro rivers, which drain into Lakes Nakuru, Baringo, Victoria, Naivasha, Natron and Bogoria. The Kenya Forest Master Plan (Ministry of Natural Resources, 1994) put the Mau forest catchments protection value at 806 million Shillings per year, which is the highest of all the watershed forests in the country. It is important to note that some of these lakes are inter-boundary for example Lake Victoria which straddles three countries in East Africa namely Kenya Uganda and Tanzania. River Nile originates from this lake and flows to the Mediterranean Sea.

Biodiversity

Flora

The forest is also rich in bio-diversity and hosts several indigenous tree species like Olea africana, Dombea goetzenii, Acacia spp, and Bamboo spp. among others. The forest has been described as being a part of the Afromontane archipelago-like. It comprises of Afromontane Forest and Afromontane Bamboo at the higher altitude. Specifically, it comprises of secondary plant community derived from Rain forest formation after logging at one time in its history (KIFCON 1994). The initial vegetation was dominated by Neoboutonia macrocalyx, which is gradually being replaced by the climax species.

Being on an escarpment, the vegetation in the Mau forest is distinct at different altitudes. Rainfall is higher and continuous on the western side with no marked dry season, and means annual rainfall of 2,000 mm and above. On the steep slopes of the escarpment, there is a Moist Montane Forest, characterized by a mixture of evergreen, semi-deciduous and deciduous trees. The average canopy height in this area is about 20 meters. The commonest tree species are Cyathea manniana, Ensete ventricosum, Acanthus eminens and Lobelia gibberoa. The Eastern side, which lies in a rain shadow, experiences a bimodal rainfall distribution, peaking in April and again in July/August, and mean annual rainfall varying from 1,000 to 1,500 mm and there is a dry forest type of ecosystem. This forest comprises mainly of Juniperus procera, Hypericum revoltum, Olea capensis, Podocarpus latifolius and Dombeya goetzeni.

Glades are also common in the Mau forest most of which are as a result of fire burning the vegetation. It is thought that the fires are usually deliberately started as a way of improving the pastures or to clear land for cultivation especially in area with bamboo forests. High mountain bamboo thickets, Arundinaria alpina, are found at the topmost parts of the forest. Polystachya eurygnatha is an archid endemic to Mau forest while Chionanthus mildbraedii is a shrub recorded to be found only in Kenya.

Fauna

Among the large animals found in this forest are Bongo, Yellow backed Duiker, Golden cat, Giant forest hog, Leopard, Hyena, Buffalo, Colobus Monkey, and Impala. The Yellow backed Duiker, the Bongo, the Golden Cat, Leopard and Elephants are some of the important mammals of international conservation concern. Other nationally endangered species found only in this forest are the Potto, the spotted Necked Otter, and the striped Hyena. The forest is also rich in a variety of birds and is ranked second among the forests west of the Rift Valley. There are no endemic bird species in this forest but it is said to represent the richest montane avifauna in the Eastern Africa. 173 species have been spotted in the forest.

.2 Forest-Community Relationship.

Mau forest is the home of the largest group of forest dwellers, the Ogiek. Since time immemorial, the Ogiek people have been living inside the Mau forest, depending on the forest for subsistence and shelter. They divided the forest among their clans using natural features like rivers, valleys or hills as boundaries. In the period between 1904-1918, the colonial government tried to evict the community from the forest, but without success. The forest was gazetted in 1932 while these people were still inside. Once again in 1941, the colonial government tried unsuccessfully to evict them after gazetting it but this only drove them further inside the forest because there was no communication between them and the government. They did not know what was expected of them. It was unheard of for the government to consult with the community and it is said that one government officer who tried it in 1935 was rebuked and sacked by his senior.

The postcolonial government did not change its attitude towards the Ogieks. It tried to evict the people in 1972 and 1977/87. In 1972, the government succeeded in evicting the people but most of them moved back into the forest after only six months. During the 1977/87 evictions, the government instructed the people to congregate around the forest stations in order to be resettled elsewhere later on. A small percentage (about 25%) did this while others went deeper into the forest.

In 1992 the government forcefully evicted all the forest dwellers that were still inside the forest and concentrated them at the forest stations and promised to allocate them land. To date, most of the Ogieks live at the forest stations but some moved to the riverbanks where they also practice subsistence farming.

The local administration then alienated that part of the forest that had been converted into plantation forest, subdivided it into five-acre plots and allocated it to individuals. The Ogieks allege that those people allocated the land were not members of their community but from the area around the forest. The forest was still gazetted and under the custody of the forest department. The forest department was not involved in the clear felling of the forest and the allocation of the land.

The communities living around the forest also depend on the forest especially during the dry weather. A case study done in Njoro area East of the Mau forest indicated that the farming community in this area utilize the plantation area to grow food crops especially vegetables during the dry seasons.

There has been a negative environmental impact on the forest since the clear felling started. Wildlife corridors have been tampered with exposing the forest dwellers and forest neighbours to attacks from elephants. Land that is on a slope of more than 50 % gradient has been allocated to farmers with no measures to check the soil erosion.

The Ogieks have always relied on forests as a source of livelihood. Honey harvesting, hunting, gathering of wild fruits and nuts from the forests have been their occupation. They started keeping livestock in 1952. All the Ogiek groups have lived in or near high forests. Forest resources played an important role in Ogiek culture rendering their conservation vital. Whenever the Ogieks moved in the forests, they used their traditional set-up to conserve it. These conservation measures that were passed on to the community by the elders include:
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* Ensuring that there were no forest outbreaks

* Allowing only the experienced elders to make beehives from the trees, so that the barks used to make such beehives are removed in a particular way that conserves the tree. The most commonly used tree for this is Juniperus procera.

* Creating awareness on important tree species like Dobeya goetzeni, Olea euro, Olea hochstetteri that were used for honey and herbs. The community members were prohibited from cutting these trees.

* In order to manage the forest properly the Ogieks allocated blocks of ...

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