Threat to 60 rivers in Mt Kenya region

80 words
17 November 2005
Kenya Times
English

By George Kebasso & Mwangi Maina

ABOUT 60 rivers in the Mt Kenya region are faced with extinction due to unchecked soil erosion, a researcher has revealed.

Dr Jennifer Olson, a Geographer with the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) said siltation was threatening many other rivers in the area.

The scientist, who was speaking recently to journalists during a trip organised by International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), said over 4 million tonnes of soil are swept into rivers in the region annually.

However, this scenario tends to be dorminant in the eastern sections of the mountain, thereby further impoverishing local lives. She said deforestation and wrong methods of land use are common in the region.

“The Mt Kenya east region was once beautiful, with magnificent slopes of green bushes of coffee. But it has now been turned into a desert.”

Agricultural researchers say the degradation of the region’s ecosystem is caused by a complex and dynamic mix of forces.

Poverty, coupled with rising population pressure and climate change pose further threats to the ecosystem, the reserachers say.

“Those who stay here have changed their farming methods systems. The coffee bushes that once protected the top soil has been cut down, leaving the soil bare,” Olson said.

Indiscriminate logging of trees has also led to an increase in soil erosion, especially during the rainy season. Research indicates that when the Kenya government subdivided the land in the1960s and 1970s, most people shifted from their landuse practices, leading to massive defforestation.

Land subdivision and charcoal burning, coupled with movement of people from the lowlands to the highlands could reduce the region to a near semi-desert, experts warn.

“Charcoal burning diminshes the soil’s organic manure, especially in the lowlands. Survival means nearly every resource has been degraded,” said Olson.

A recent study by Land Use Change Impacts and Dynamics (LUCID) conducted in Kenya reveals that major land use conversions have occurred throughout the region in the past 50 years, reflecting the rapid evolution of the socio-economic systems.

The study further reveals that in some periods, particularly following a modification of land policy, the changes occured swiftly and were accompanied by major alterations of farming systems.

According to LUCID, the most significant change since the 1980s has been the decrease in land cover as a result of cultivation and bush desctruction.

The report says this alone accounted for almost half of the land use change.

While this happened in the years when the population and pressure on the natural resources in the region was low, another picture was emerging — degradation of natural resources. Forests or woodlands thinned tremendously, transforming it into bush and consequently to grassland.

Today districts areas of Embu, Meru Central, Meru South, Mbeere and Tharaka have seen rising poverty levels, especially in the last seven years, perhaps most clearly reflected in the drop in global coffee prices.

IFAD reports cite the increasing neglect of coffee farming has led to serious environmental degradation, due to deforestation and inappropriate agricultural practices on fragile soils.