Politics and the Mau Forest

Over the past month, there has been no single more important issue in Kenya and East Africa than the Mau forest. It is amazing to see how politicians are willing to destroy probably the most important forest in East Africa to make political capital.

It is also interesting to see how politicians on both sides of the argument can take advantage of an environmental catastrophe to score brownie points.

As Kenyans are arguing, this forest is slowly dying and may never recover to its past glory. Its destruction has been so complete that rivers that used to be permanent and eco-systems that only exist in these forest have all but disappeared.

I am of the opinion that politicians all around the world should keep away from environmental matters. As the world is grappling with the idea that global warming may make this world untenable, in Kenya, the destruction of the Mau forest has already had an impact.

It is amazing to see that there are still people who believe that man has had no impact in climate change, global warming or whatever the politicians will call it next. We are still arguing on who or what started degrading the environment. However, nature does not wait for people to listen, it acts and acts in a hurry.

The Mau forest is the biggest water catchment area in East Africa. It's waters are as important to the people in Kenya as to the people in Egypt. For centuries, water flowing from this forest have been feeding people and eco-systems all the way from Kenya to the Mediterranean Sea.

That is about to change drastically.

Some time in the late 90's the government of Kenya under President Moi decided to settle the Ogiek community in the forest. This was understood to be a good thing since these were the indigenous people of the forest and had been known to protect it with passion.

As politics in Kenya goes, instead of the government settling these indigenous people, they handed out huge parcels of land to friends of the government at that time. Most of those given these gazetted forest land were members of the same government and even family members.

Soon they were sub-dividing these huge tracts of land and selling them to unknowing Kenyans who were just happy to be able to buy land anywhere. In pure Kenyan political fashion, more land was handed out to illegal settlers for political favors.

The results are now mind numbing. Trees are cut willy nilly, charcoal is burned, once forest land has been cleared and the rivers from Mau have all but dried up.

The destruction of the Mau forest is the eight wonder of the world. If you have ever been to Kenya as a tourist, Lake Nakuru is a mandatory stop over. Flamingos from around the world nest there. That is about to end as the river that feeds Lake Nakuru is all but a trickle. Flamingoes are dying and living this eco-system as the Mau is dying.

Lake Naivasha has been taken over by multinational companies selling flowers to the west and that too is about to die. Most of the rivers that feed the Masaai Mara, are all but a trickle. The Masaai are no longer able to keep up with their nomad life since all the rivers that feed their eco-systems have dried up due to the human activity in the Mau forest.

The Mau is now about 25% of what it used to be. The biggest water catchment area in East Africa has been taken over by politicians who are only interested in handing out land to their communities.

It is amazing to read Kenyan newspapers and hear what these people have to say. All they want is money. In the meantime, if you are a tourist in Kenya, you know that there is no running water all the way from the airport to your hotel. In fact, people living in the capital city Nairobi have not had water in their taps for more than 2 months and they are being warned that things will get worse.

Why?

Some politicians have seen that they can make a lot of money giving out land in the Mau. Kenya is now in a drought and the only source of water is basically dead.

It is my honest belief that what is happening in the Mau forest in Kenya is about to happen all around the world. Human beings have a tendency to bring their arguments to the least common denominator. As they do that, the earth is slowly dying. 

For those who want to see what human beings can do and are doing to mother nature, please take a trip to Kenya and you will know exactly what kind of earth we are living our children if we leave the environment to politicians.