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{
    "id": 1496013,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1496013/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 398,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Wajir North, UDA",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Ibrahim Saney",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": " Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker. In supporting the Bill, I want to put some few facts forward. The eucalyptus tree was imported into this country. So, it is good to appreciate that it is foreign or rather a non-exotic species that was imported into Kenya. The adverse effects of imported plants without regard to environmental impact assessment and the impact they generally cause to the environment is a matter of grave concern to this nation. Eucalyptus, in its natural habitat, is supposed to be a useful tree but, in Kenya, its adverse effects outweigh its benefits environmentally. What does the eucalyptus tree do to our environment? It has what they call an allelopathy effect on the environment. What does that mean? It releases chemicals into our ecosystem and into our soil that inhibits the growth of all the other trees. It will do well by itself, but it destroys the vigour, biodiversity and vitality of our environment in totality, thus degrading the environment in a very big way. Imagine having a tree that eliminates all other trees. What is the impact of eliminating other fauna or flora? The impact is that it destroys many other livelihoods if it destroys any other vegetation. For instance, if eucalyptus eliminates all other vegetation, beekeepers will be affected. The bees cannot have the flowers to generate the honey we need as a form of livelihood. Pasture propagation or the growth of pasture will equally be affected. It will be a homogeneous stand of plants that does away with all other plants that we so need for our livelihood and sustenance. It has a very dangerous taproot, incomparable to other plants, that taps into our soils, even into the most barren of the Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (ASALs) soils. If you take it to Chalbi Dessert, it can get water from so deep. That is the consequence and the extent of the impact that eucalyptus trees can cause. That tree dehydrates our soil and dehydration of soils is clear to everybody. When we cease to have water in our soils, we cease to have life in its entirety, in our soils and our ecosystems. That is a tree that takes copious amounts of water from our soils, the ASALs and even those that have good water sources. Eucalyptus can equally drain our soils and make sure that there is no more water in our soils. It has that dangerous network of taproots that can go deep and dehydrate our soils. When you dehydrate the soil, you impact the chemical imbalance in our soil. That is how"
}