Forest Destruction Alarms Western Environment Groups
11/9/99
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Title: Forest destruction alarms Western environment groups
Source: The Nation (Nairobi)
Status: Copyright 1999, contact source for permission to reprint
Date: November 9, 1999
Byline: Paul Redfern
Nairobi - Western environmental groups are alarmed by a report from
the Kenya Wildlife Service that over 90 per cent of Mount Kenya's
forest canopy had been wiped out in an area of 32,000 acres.
Ms Primrose Stubbs of the London-based Friends of Conservation said
it would be "catastrophic" if the logging was allowed to continue.
The Times newspaper said today that the mass logging would have
severe wider environmental and economic consequences for Kenya.
"Mount Kenya is one of the country's five major water catchment
areas, providing water supply for irrigation and domestic use and
hydroelectric power to much of the north-east and east of Kenya. The
forest not only attracts heavy rainfall in a largely arid region, it
also stores water, releasing it gradually into streams and rivers to
ensure a year-round supply.
"Even more alarming is the fact that the destruction of the Mount
Kenya forest is only part of the picture. Indigenous forest covers
only about two per cent of Kenya's land area (but) this is being
destroyed at the rate of about 20,000 acres a year."
The Kenya Wildlife Service study of the Mount Kenya area, based on
repeated aerial photography, says that the tree cover is being
devastated by illegal logging for marijuana cultivation and
agricultural encroachment.
Nearly 15,000 trees have been felled, some of which can take up to
400 years to reach full height. The destruction of the forest is also
likely to have a severe impact on wildlife.