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"id": 395456,
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"speaker_name": "Sen. Hargura",
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"content": "Thank you, Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, for giving me this opportunity to contribute to this important Motion. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, vegetation is very important in the arid areas, and the kind of vegetation which grows there is very hardy and that is what the communities from around there have adopted. Similarly, animals in those areas also rely on such vegetation. But in this case, we have a crop or a plant which was introduced and which, along the way, is now becoming a problem by causing some ecological imbalances by trying to conquer the plants, weeds and grass which grow in that area. So, I support this Motion because this is a serious issue, especially for people in arid areas, because the ecosystem is fragile. The ecosystem is so fragile such that, for instance, when they are doing oil exploration, the tracks or the cut lines which were done in the mid 1980s are still there. They have removed the trees which were there and none has grown on its own. So, it is a very fragile ecosystem. The locals have perfected a way of using that ecosystem without damaging it, and that is why they are mostly pastoralists. They use an area to a certain level and then they move to another area so that, that one regenerates. But, now, with the introduction of this tree, which we are told from existing literature that it is from Tropical America, and which first came to Kenya in the 1970s to rehabilitate a quarry in Bamburi, Mombasa---. I am told that it was taken to Baringo for re-afforestation and for a fuel program. But in most cases, right now we are told it covers seven out of the former eight provinces of this country. It moves on its own; it is kind of a self propelling tree in the sense that it has some very hardy seeds which are in the pods, and once they are consumed by the animals which move from area to area, they propagate the growth of that tree in those areas. Because of that, it has kind-of colonized most of the areas, and that is why most of the pastoralist communities in the Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (ASALS) are complaining because it actually grows in those areas which are of potential to these communities. These are areas such as along the water courses, in flood plains and in the irrigation schemes. These are the areas which these communities rely on because when it rains, it is in the flood plains where you get grass; and it is along the water points where you get some good pasture. But now this weed has taken root in those areas and it grows in such a way that it forms green, thick bushes which kind of exclusively do away with other plants there. So, it affects the ecosystem as it takes over and colonizes the other plants. Grass does not grow because by nature of its cover, very little light or rain goes through. Basically where it grows, like those who have been to North Eastern around 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."
}