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{
    "id": 819310,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/819310/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 241,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Nominated, JP",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. (Ms.) Cecily Mbarire",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13166,
        "legal_name": "David Ole Sankok",
        "slug": "david-ole-sankok"
    },
    "content": " Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker. I rise to support this Report. From the outset, I would like to congratulate this committee, led by their very able Chair, Hon. Kareke Mbiuki, for a job well done. We do not have to get into issues critical to us just because they have come to us by way of petitions. Sometimes we should take up matters because they are of national importance. The role that our forests play in our climate and the livelihood of Kenyans cannot be gainsaid. Therefore, it was important that this Report comes before us so that we interrogate it and come up with resolutions that will be helpful. I hope that this important Report that has been debated - and I am sure will be passed by this able House - will be one that the KFS and the Ministry of Environment and Forestry will take up seriously, look at the recommendations and ensure the implementation of the same. Let me begin by first letting Members know that there is something called eco-tourism. Eco-tourism is where tourists come and they are interested in going to our ecosystem and forests like Kakamega Forest, which is very popular for eco-tourism. This is a product that we can sell as a country and we continue to do so. In that eco-tourism product, we should come up with something called eco-lodges. Eco-lodges are built inside the forest but they do not in any way interfere with the eco-system within a forest. You build structures and shelters that do not demand that you cut down trees. What tourists want to do is to come and when they open the door of a tent or a structure they are sleeping in, the first thing they see are the birds that are in that forest and the different trees that they can study that help the country. If we can take that route like is the case with Rwanda, we will give communities a reason to conserve the forest. That was just a by the way. What has shocked me in the findings and observations of this committee is the fact that Kenya lacks a master plan for the natural resources that we have. We do not have a master plan. Even in terms of our forest cover which is way below the recommended world average of 10 per cent, it is by fluke. There is no real policy or action plan meant to ensure that we attain a forest cover beyond 10 per cent. In fact, we should not be thinking of the world average. We should be thinking about being the best in Africa and the world in terms of forest cover. I am extremely shocked by that. I hope that the Ministry - which provides the policy direction of this important sector - will ensure that we have a master plan so that we can map out the forest in the country and ensure that we know where real action needs to The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposes only. Acertified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}