Let's conserve our environment

In today’s issue of the Standard, Prof Wangare Maathai has put up a strong case in support of conserving our environment in an open letter she has written to the Right Hon Prime Minister.

She has touched on 6 cardinal issues that are also very dear to our initiative, From Talking to Tasking, the Greening of Nairobi East; A KCDN Initiative’;
1] Environmental education; in our mobilization process, we are encouraging the youth and their parents to each become personally responsible for our environment. We must each plant a tree and attend to it. We must each keep clean our water points and stop throwing garbage into the streams. This clogs the rivers and the water points. The enclosed photos attests to what environmental degradations can do to our rivers and water points.

2] Vanishing wetlands; we all know that rain has not been as consistent as it was some times back. This has led to drying up of wetlands. There has also been that threat from invasion by man. What is our collective responsibility in galvanizing the populace to conserving and preserving our wetlands. It is our responsibility to impart information to the youth and the parents in this regard.

3] Flimsy plastic bags; this is the biggest menace affecting our environment. If you take a look at the enclosed photos, you will notice that most of the dirt is plastic. What then is our role in making sure that we dispose of plastic in a manner that becomes environmentally friendly? In the run up to From Talking to Tasking, the Greening of Nairobi East; A KCDN Initiative’, we are engaging the youth and their parents with hard facts about this. We must do all that it takes to make the all needed difference. The government also needs to come up with a clear policy on manufacture of flimsy plastic bags. In the same vein, the government must also enforce rules on disposal of such paper. Can we attach instant fines to all those caught in the act?

4] Clearing of vegetation on road reserves; it must be our responsibility to plant and water trees along road reserves. In the East of Nairobi we have concrete jungles competing for all space. In an estate like Komarock, the road sides are all tarmac and it becomes very tricky planting trees. But it is our responsibility as Kenyans to ensure that we plant trees along the roads and in our compounds. This is the drive that we are initiating on 5th September 2009 and we call upon all people of goodwill to join us in this exercise. Let us all make it our responsibility. And at KCDN, we are sensitizing both the youth and our parents on this need.

5] Rain water harvesting; Kenya has been procrastinating with this for ever. Just after Independence, we used to have lots of rain. Compared with the trends now, we could predict with certainty when the rains would fall. This calls to mind our planning capacity. It is sad to note that Masinga Dam was built in 1942 and has served Nairobi and the Metropolis with distinction till now. If the government put in some little planning, we would have had various methods of water harvesting and storage. Isn’t it time we put pressure on our government to become serious with planning. We can do it so let us do it.

6] Conservation of the 5 water towers; for 46 years now, little effort has been put into conserving the water towers by the government. We all know how Mau Forest Complex was given out to politically correct individuals and how that has led to massive rape of the water catchment area. We all know that when Aberdare Ranges was under threat from the government, it was the private sector that came up with a road map to fence the forest and guard against government instigated encroachment. We must all loud Mr. Kiboro, formerly the CEO at Nation Media Group for doing a sterling job in this. Kenyans must all join and help guard against government instigated encroachments into the 5 water towers namely; Mau Forest Complex, Aberdare Ranges, Mt Kenya, Cherengani Hills and Mt Elgon.

We all know that when it comes to environmental destruction, the government has been in the front line. We have forest guards employed by the relevant ministries to guard our forest, yet, the worst forest destructions have been supervised by these people who were meant to safe guard the same forests.

All is not lost at least. If we put our act together now, we can help give life to our children. If we enjoin our children in environmental education now, we will create a future that will be green. If we join hands with the relevant ministries and put them to task, become partners in the process, our guards will not destroy our future any more.

This is why we enjoin Prof Wangare Maathai in also appealing to the Right Hon Prime Minister to lead from the front and help mobilize the youth of Kenya through Kazi Kwa Vijana Initiative in playing a greater role in creating environmental awareness and conservation.

The Kazi Kwa Vijana Initiative if well handled can clean the Nairobi River and help make Nairobi green again. And this is where KCDN comes in. And we have invited Total Kenya Ltd, Green Belt Movement, UNEP, the Ministries of Environment and that of Forestry, the City Council of Nairobi and some more companies and institutions to kindly join us on 5th September 2009 at 8.00am at Komarock Phase 2 to push forward From Talking to Tasking, the Greening of Nairobi East; A KCDN Initiative’.

We owe this to our children.

Odhiambo T Oketch
CEO KCDN Nairobi.
Tel; 0735 529 126, 0724 365 557,
http://kcdnkomarockswatch.blogspot.com