Today, on World Environment Day, a state agency in Kenya has warned that the country’s ecosystem is under great threat.
The National Environmental Complaints Committee (NECC) has determined that the landslides, erratic rainfall patterns and degraded lands that have caused the loss of life and property in frequent disastrous events across the country have their source in the destruction of trees and forests.
As the global community marks World Environment Day today under the theme Time for Nature, Kenya is running out of time to save its ecosystem from over-exploitation, pollution and invasive species.
The urgency was written in the Kenya Constitution of 2010, which included a minimum tree cover target of 10% of total landmass (increased from the current 6%), and a National Strategy for achieving and maintaining this target by 2022.
Challenges remain but progress is happening. We spoke to the agency on the frontlines of the forest cover initiative target – The Kenya Forest Service – and investigated what it will really take to achieve the 10% target.
