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{
    "id": 572714,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/572714/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 282,
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    "content": "Discussing climate change, modernizing the way we look at the environment and realizing that the protection of our forests has something to do with the life of the people now and in the future. When we talk about carbon credit and protecting the forest, the rivers and avoiding pollution of the rivers like the Nairobi River, we are talking about the possibilities and the benefits of bequeathing the future generation a society that is better than we found. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, let me give a very short story. I grew up as a villager in a place called Embobut. Around my home at my time, we had a lot of wild animals which we used to interact with, like the Colubus monkeys and baboons. More often than not, we would wake up in the morning and find a baboon in our small garden digging potatoes. Those days, it was not difficult to see a gazelle and many other wild animals. It was easy for us and we enjoyed that. There were very many kinds of indigenious trees like bamboos. It is a beauty that I regret. However, overtime, because of human destruction, it is not there, I am unable to take my two little sons and daughter to the same place that I was brought up and show them the things that I saw as a young person that shaped my thoughts and made the environment serene and attractive. It made the rivers flow all the time; that brought tranquility and inner peace that comes with a good and nice environment. There was proper oxygen like it was properly enunciated by the Senate Majority Leader when he was moving this Bill. It is time, therefore, we lifted the discussion about the environment and climate change to a stature where the nation puts it at the centre of its development, so that we will not be telling ourselves that it is better to have a road than to protect a forest. We will not be telling ourselves that it is better to have factories instead of protecting the rivers. President Obama mentioned that sometimes when a society is growing and is on industrial revolution, people focus on how many people will be employed in a factory than the rivers which will be polluted. That narrative needs to be changed because we have a responsibility to ensure that at the centre of every development; whether constructing railway, roads, schools, factories and providing housing for those with no houses, we must do it in a manner that responds to the needs of our country. I want to quote directly what President Obama said. He said:- “We have not inherited this land from our forebears, but we have borrowed it from our children.” I believe that if we make the issue of climate change to be at the centre of our discussion and development, appreciating that protecting the environment is as good as building the roads and that it is more beneficial to human life - By protecting our environment, we will deal with diseases like cancer, respiratory diseases or others that are bedeviling our society now. Mr. Temporary Speaker, you are more qualified than myself to discuss the link between health issues and the question of protecting the environment. I like Clause 5 of this Bill which states that:- 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."
}