Entry Instance

HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept

{
    "id": 573807,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/573807/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 421,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. (Prof.) Anyang'-Nyong'o",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 193,
        "legal_name": "Peter Anyang' Nyong'o",
        "slug": "peter-nyongo"
    },
    "content": "Madam Temporary Speaker, extraction from nature without human beings replenishing it is tantamount to interfering with the climate. Therefore, a law like this should really deal with such issue and that is why I am linking this Bill to the other ones on mining, because we cannot really talk about climate change if we do not talk about environmental degradation and conservation. Madam Temporary Speaker, lastly, on the issue of preserving our water and forest resources, you will notice that Lake Victoria, the biggest fresh water lake in the world, has for quite some time been dying from below. When I was working with the African Academy of Sciences in the late 1980s and early 1990s where we worked closely with the International Center for Insects Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE), under the late Prof. Odhiambo, we carried out a study on the environmental degradation in Lake Victoria and it was confirmed that the great lake was dying from below. This does not just adversely affect the aquaculture in the lake but the climate as well. This is because as we know from our early Geography lessons in primary and secondary schools, rainfall is affected by evaporation from large water resources, like Lake Victoria. During the day, the vapor rises up, goes to the mountains, then when it cools, there is precipitation. However, when there is ecological change in the lake affecting both the water and aquaculture in the lake, it adversely affects the climate. Madam Temporary Speaker, we, therefore, need to have laws like this which help us preserve our water resources to the extent that environmental changes that occur in these water resources do not adversely affect the climate. The same goes for our forest resources; the flora and fauna. It has been lamented that a very small percentage of the land surface in Kenya is covered by forest. The latest figure that I got is about 10 to 12 per cent. This is very serious especially when the small percentage covered by forest resources is also being depleted very fast. It was quite tragic that when in the Coalition Government under the former Prime Minister, Hon. Raila Amollo Odinga, took the initiative to recover Mau Forest, it 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."
}