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{
    "id": 947500,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/947500/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 281,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Halake",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13184,
        "legal_name": "Abshiro Soka Halake",
        "slug": "abshiro-soka-halake"
    },
    "content": "to think that the Government own forests, yet it is the people who should plant the trees. There is a bit of disconnect in that. There is also a distinction between planting trees and growing forests. A tree needs three years of constant nurturing, watering and care for it to survive. So, we need to look beyond just tree plantation to tree growing, which is where we should be going and how communities are facilitated to do so. What I like about this Motion is that it has a role for communities. It is asking for community associations to be formed to look after forests. This is one way of land in Kenya being owned and used. A forest is a form of land use. If communities do not own the land or their land is being taken away as public land, then what are we talking about? We need to look at the connection between land use, ownership, resources and how our forest cover is depleted because nobody owns it. How will people look after something that they do not accrue any benefits from? That is where any conservation of forests or other natural resources need to look at joint ownership, as well as benefits of the communities from it. In any case, these forests should belong to the people. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, county governments, for instance, hold land and other forests resources in trust for communities. However, no community in the last few years has benefitted from forest resources. These resources form very important habitat for wildlife, which brings so much foreign exchange to this country. Communities are not benefiting. I do not see how, when you have zero benefits accruing to you, you will be so passionate to do this. The approach by the Government of restricting people from going there or converting community forests to public forests, is not the way to go. The other issue is our laws. Our laws, especially the Forests Conservations Management Act excludes the people. It talks of the national Government and county governments being the sole custodians of our natural resources, particularly forests. How is it that the communities will feel the ownership to then take care of our forests? What we should be doing in House is to make amendments to all our laws regarding conservation, to make sure that they include communities."
}