Environmental concerns has always been one of the top issues in Kenya especially those who are living below the poverty line. This is because they rely on the water and land reservoir of their society. In addition to that a big portion of the Kenya’s labor force are engaged in agriculture.
The most severe devastation in Kenya’s environment was a drought in 2006. It has brought more than 3 million of people with barely enough food to live. Some parts even experience scarce over water resources and starvation.
A lot of factors are causing environmental problems in Kenya such as global warming and people’s wrong habits. If this continues, the severity and number of these issues will prevail. Here are some recent environmental issues to look out for:
Deforestation
Currently, Kakamega forest is one of the endangered places that can be a threat to more environmental problems of the country because of deforestation. Kakamega forest is the only mid-altitude rainforest in Kenya. It’s such a good sanctuary that it provides home to rare species of various animals such as birds, reptiles, insects and monkeys.
A bigger one is the Wanton forest that protect nearby areas from one of the leading killer diseases, Malaria. The trees in Wanton forest has now the risk of extinction. It could possibly make the treatment of Malaria for Kenya nationals lost forever.
Malaria is killing an average of 34,000 children (half of Kenya’s population) due to lack of doctors and drugs. Because of the deforestation, the treatment for the disease is even harder. Even more plants with medicinal properties are in danger of extinction.
Elephant Hunting
Currently, there are laws to prevent people from killing elephants for their ivories. There are also man-made sanctuaries to keep these animals alive. But, there are legal elephant hunting in the African continent. There was, is and will be elephant hunting as long as there are people who eyes for the ivory, aside from the fact that there are also people who pays and bribes just to hunt. One of the reason is that it gives more money compared to eco-tourism and businesses.
The government understands this awful scenario, but still strives to battle it back. There are also a lot of causes to battle elephant hunting, poaching, among others.
Kenyan Water Crisis
Water crisis the country is considerably the worst environmental issue of today. Kenya needs to supply clean water to its people as everyone needs on water resources, not only as a drinking water but also a vital support for their cops, livestock and fishing. Large population all throughout Kenya has been experiencing water crisis due to overuse of land and increasing community settlements.
One example is the Mau forest, the major watershed for the country. The destruction of trees in the forest caused massive soil erosion that caused water pollution in addition to animal and human waste. Aside from drought and scarcity, polluted water also caused diseases to a vast population and tribal conflicts over the remaining clean water.
Humphrey Kariuki Ndegwa is an African business figure widely known for his work in the energy and petroleum sector. He currently heads Dalbit International, a leading petroleum supplier in East Africa.
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