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{
    "id": 530655,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/530655/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 95,
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    "content": "them that forests continue to be useful to them. We should not just burn houses, chase people away, beat them and take their property. It is important to show them that conservation of the forests can be beneficial to them, so that they are involved in the process of conserving the forests and shown the mechanisms of ecotourism. The resources that come from those areas should be useful to them. I was once involved in the collection of views under what was referred to as the Ghai Commission that was working on the Constitution. I went to Mwakinyungu in Taita-Taveta and remember so well, despite the fact that it is more than ten years ago, one lady asking: “If we want to conserve the elephants for foreigners to come and see them, why do we not just kill all the others and have one of them caged in one area?” Since these elephants were destroying their property and nobody showed them how they were benefiting from them, they just saw them as enemies. We must help our people to appreciate that a forest is a friend. The only way that the environment can be a friend, is if they are going to benefit from that environment. If you continue conserving the environment, you will support another principle for international environmental law which is “intergenerational equity,” to ensure that your children and the children of our children can see the animals that we are seeing today. There are places in this world where elephants used to exist, but they no longer have them. They have to come to Africa to see an elephant. It must be possible for our great grandchildren to enjoy the environment that we left behind. I agree that we must look for mechanisms for fencing or any other mechanism that will ensure that we conserve the forests and wildlife. When the national environmental action plan comes to this House after we amend this Act, it must show how we will change our settlement behaviour, so that people can live together and avoid the desire of accumulating as many acres of land as possible or sub-dividing existing land to the extent that wild animals are threatened. These wild animals are threatened in this country, yet they are a wonderful and great heritage, foreign exchange earner and source of economic growth and development in this country. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I support this Bill. I hope that the suggested amendments will be considered by the Mover or the relevant Committee, so that we adopt them accordingly in the Committee of the Whole."
}