Entry Instance

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

{
    "id": 947570,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/947570/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 351,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Wambua",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13199,
        "legal_name": "Enoch Kiio Wambua",
        "slug": "enoch-kiio-wambua"
    },
    "content": "It will be remembered that we used to have the 4K Clubs in schools where students would come together and plant trees. That faded away. Nothing much is happening in schools in terms of conservation of the environment. Madam Temporary Speaker, the impression created by some politicians that communities are at war with the environment is wrong and, perhaps, aimed at other motives. We know that across the globe communities have lived in harmony with the environment. There are indigenous communities that live in forests not just in Kenya, but all over the world. In our country, we have the Ogieks who have done very well in conserving the environment and forests. They live in forests. In Australia, we have the Aborigines and the Red Indians in the United States of America (USA) who have done a lot in conserving environment. I want to thank Sen. Kasanga because she is making us realize that communities living around our forests are the answers to the problems that we are facing in conserving the environment and doing serious sustainable afforestation. Once we acknowledge that fact, we will be able to take bold steps in ensuring we achieve acceptable forest covers in this country. Madam Temporary Speaker, the issue of environment is so important that the drafters of our Constitution dedicated an entire Chapter Five on Land and Environment. I am very interested in Part Two of Chapter Five of the Constitution which talks about the obligations in respect of the environment. Important as it is that we have captured the issue of environmental conservation in our Constitution, I take great exception to the low standards that we have set for ourselves as a nation in terms of conserving our environment, especially the whole issue of afforestation. Article 69(1) (b) is on achieving and maintaining a tree cover of at least 10 per cent of the land mass in Kenya. Progressive nations of the world have moved beyond these percentages of forest cover. Ten per cent is so low that even if you achieve it, the negative impacts and effects of global warming will continue to affect us. I also want to debunk the thought - and the Senator for Kericho has put it very well - that it is not the peasant farmer carrying a panga or a jembe who is responsible for the destruction of our environment and forests in this country, but it is multinational organizations working closely with the Kenya Forest Service (KFS). It is a pity that the wrong impression has been created that when we are talking about conserving our forests, that the KFS should be sitting on our side and pointing fingers at the people who are destroying forests. The truth of the matter is KFS is culprit number one in the destruction of forests. They should be seated on the side of the people we are accusing of destroying our forests. The question we should ask ourselves is, by the time we destroyed and reduced Mau Forest to what it is today, where was the KFS? When these communities encroached our forests, who gazetted the establishment of chief camps in those forests? Who allowed the establishment of schools in those forests? These schools did not just happen on the people, they were registered. There was an elaborate process to register them. We cannot just wake up in the morning and start evicting people from their land in the forest and we pretend we do not know where they came from. I support wholeheartedly the spirit of conserving our forests, but as we do it, we must have a human face in this exercise. The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate."
}