The East African Standard online
Published on May 27, 2008, 12:00 am

By Peter Opiyo

Prime Minister Raila Odinga has kick-started a process to save the Mau forest from destruction.

Raila chaired a high-profile stakeholders’ meeting on Monday ahead of his visit to the region on Tuesday.

The forest is under siege due to human activity and has lost more than 100 hectares of forestland in the last ten years.

Raila said the Government was treating the matter seriously and was determined to come up with a solution.

"We are concerned about the situation in Mau and want to find a solution to the increased human activity there," he said.

A team of experts from UNEP, led by Policy and Programme Officer, Mr Christian Lambrechts, gave a presentation on the invasion of the forest and raised alarm over the future of projects that depend on the Mau Complex.

The Sh15 billion Sondu-Miriu and Sangoro power plants that depend on the southwest Mau river, as well as Lakes Nakuru and Baringo, are at the centre of the crisis.

Lambrechts said 1,962 title deeds were issued irregularly in the Maasai Mau, leading to encroachment on trust land.

In the struggle to save the forest, the Government has used force to evict illegal occupants, with the process at times taking a political dimension.

Raila said his office decided to engage stakeholders so that a solution devoid of confrontation and controversy could be found.

"If resettlement is necessary, we need to know how to do it without using force," the PM said at his Treasury office.

He appealed to local leaders to show restraint and ask their followers to do the same.

Said Odinga: "We must take deliberate actions. Let’s be part of the solution and not part of the problem."

Lambrechts underscored the importance of environmental stability for economic development, recommending that rehabilitation of the forest be undertaken as well as addressing the causes of human activity.

The 400,000 hectares Mau Complex is part of the upper catchment area of the Nile River Basin. Water bodies such as Lake Nakuru and the Ewaso Ngiro River are under threat due to a drop in the water level.

UNEP records indicate that about 50 per cent of forestland for the Lake Nakuru catchment area has been lost in the last ten years.

The session also brought together Cabinet ministers, Mrs Charity Ngilu (Water), Dr Noah Wekesa (Forestry), Mr James Orengo (Lands) and Mr William ole Ntimama (National Heritage).

In the past, the Government carried out evictions where thousands of people were forcibly uprooted. Environmental groups have also expressed concern over loss of forest cover and its negative impacts.