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{
    "id": 395435,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/395435/?format=api",
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    "content": "the laws of our country as supported by the Environmental Management and Coordination Act of 1999. We cannot be the generation that caused so much damage, death and health problems for whatever reason. I believe the people who introduced this plant may have had good intentions but it has now come to pass that whatever benefits that this plant could be bringing in the name of reducing desertification are outweighed tremendously by the health hazards. We need to remember that we have a duty as this generation to ensure that future generations in this country can enjoy a proper environment because the rate at which this plant is causing damage is attaining disproportionate levels and I think this is going to be a very big public menace. So, we should be guided by the principle of international equity which is part of the international environmental law and part of our constitutional order under our own legislation, especially the Environmental Management and Coordination Act of 1999. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, in any case, I have heard some of the arguments within the literature. Some people say that there is very little evidence to prove that some of the hazards that Sen. (Prof.) Lonyangapuo and Sen. Munyes have associated with this plant do not have scientific link or nexus. It is also a general point in this area of law and responsibility that we take precaution. The fact that there is absence of the absolute proof or linkage between the public health hazard and this plant should not be an excuse. We are better of mitigating, arresting or removing this plant even if some of the effects have not been proven, than to wait until we have more people and livestock dying or losing their teeth and limbs. We should take precaution. Finally, I think as much as afforestation is good and the reduction of desertification, we also need to know as a country that especially with certain ecological conditions that have existed in our country for such a long time--- For example, we have had certain areas being covered by forests for the last 100 years and certain parts of our country being desert territories for over 100 years, it is scientifically established that sometimes it is very damaging to start interfering with the ecological balance which has crystallized over a very long time. In other words, if we had the Mau Forest and because of our greed, we have cut down trees in the last ten years, we can plant trees to replace the ones we cut without affecting the environment. But to try and create a desert out of an area which has been under forest cover for the last 200 years is to interfere with the ecological balance which is established and this brings some of the effects that we are seeing right now. It is high time we started looking at better ways of using our dry lands because they are not necessarily wastelands and we have seen that. For example, we now have oil and water in Turkana and we really do not need much. So, let us not be obsessed with this idea that green is everything. There is a way in which some of the dry lands could be useful to this country without us necessarily interfering with certain long-term permanent environmental conditions. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, it is for that reason that there is even an international treaty to which Kenya is a party; the United Nations International Agreement on the Prohibition of Environmental Modification. This is modification where The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposes only. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate."
}