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{
    "id": 660733,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/660733/?format=api",
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    "content": "huge sums of money for them and the county governments get nothing. Therefore, as we look at this Bill, there is need for us to introduce some amendments so that even the county governments on whose land sits the forests or whose people should benefit from the forest resources also benefit from any fees or any sale of forest produce within the areas of their jurisdiction. Thirdly, the KFS itself needs to be devolved so that we do not have forest guards coming from all over Kenya but there are no forest guards from the regions where forests are situated. County governments should also be given some responsibility of allocating funds and training forest guards to work with the KFS in protecting the forests and that will be a good recognition to them. Fourthly, the Kenya Forestry Research Institute (KEFRI) at Londiani has been there since 1940s but it is not expanding. We would like to hear of other forest research institutes or campuses of that institute. Mount Kenya area is one of the largest water conservation areas in this country. We would like to have a branch of the KEFRI within that region and, indeed, in other regions like the Trans Mara area, the former Coast Province et cetera, so that other counties also benefit from the training and education that would come as a result of those institutes. Indeed, there is a shortage of forest personnel. Such institutes would take care of that. Looking at how forests have been defined, it is now possible to establish private forests. Like we have agricultural officers, we need forest officers who can work with farmers to establish forests within their own farms. Madam Temporary Speaker, I think time has come for us also to be bold in our thinking. When I travelled to Malaysia, I found out that rubber trees were the main source of furniture. It is that furniture that Malaysia exports all over the world. We have swampy areas in this country like Yala, Budalang’i and others where we can introduce rubber trees. We do not have to continue relying on the traditional trees that we know. We can introduce new exotic trees with value which can also improve the economies of the various counties in this country. I am told that the bamboo trees have over 200 uses. There is no reason why we cannot establish bamboo forests as plantations in this country. An attempt was made to plant some in the Trans Mara area but I do not know what happened because nobody talks about it. Madam Temporary Speaker, I also would like to link forests with people and development. Right now, there are many areas in this country where there has been massive deforestation including semi-arid areas. When you drive even in the semi-arid areas, you will find gunias of charcoal. That is massive destruction of trees even in tree- scarce areas. So, we need a very strict regulation of charcoal and encouragement of other forms of energy because we are likely to create a lot of desertification in this country in the process of seeking cheap energy. When I was in the Ministry of Energy, we introduced a programme that was supposed to work with women in this country to plant trees because we had discovered that no amount of electricity could replace firewood from our jikos . We had discovered that even in areas where we had extended rural electrification, people used electricity for lighting and firewood for making their meals. Therefore, we came to a decision that wood should be treated as fuel. We recommended investment in afforestation and growing more trees so that other trees would still grow even if we harvested some for fuel. 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"
}