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Kenya gives squatters October deadline to quit threatened forest land
Nairobi (AFP) July 16, 2008 The Kenyan government on Tuesday gave tens of thousands of people up to October 30 to vacate swathes of a threatened forest in the country's Rift Valley region or face evictions. Prime Minister Raila Odinga said authorities would fence off the 400,000-acre Mau Forest Complex, a blanket of indigenious woodland in the central Rift Valley region, west of the capital Nairobi, to stop further encroachment. "We shall re-demarcate the forest boundaries, fence off the forest and also put in place an effective long-term management plan to save the Mau," Odinga explained. "Despite its critical importance for sustaining economic development, the Mau Forests Complex has suffered from rampant illegal logging and charcoal making; by illegal and irregular settlements, as well as ill-informed excisions of forest lands for unplanned settlements. "The excisions and the widespread encroachments have led to the destruction of nearly a quarter of the Mau Complex area over the last 15 years. Such an extensive and on-going destruction of a key natural asset for the country is nothing less than a national emergency," Odinga added. "It presents significant environmental and economic threats. It also underlines a breakdown of law and order." Officials say that up to 50,000 people, including squatters, have illegally occupied the forest, which is a water catchment area for many Rift Valley lakes. The warning came two days after Nobel Peace Laureate Wangari Maathai said the country will regret its failure to protect the environment, notably forests and wetlands. Much of Kenya's land surface is affected by desertification and about 10 million of the country's 35 million people live in poverty in areas classified as arid or semi-arid, according to official figures. Environmentalists have long argued that further deforestation can only worsen the problem of recurring droughts and frequent food shortages, particularly in the arid and semi-arid areas. During his last decade in power, President Daniel arap Moi -- who retired in 2002 -- authorised the cutting down of thousands of hectares of forest land, causing complaints from environmentalists. Community Email This Article Comment On This Article Share This Article With Planet Earth
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U.N. to do global deforestation survey
Rome (UPI) Jul 16, 2008 A global survey to assess deforestation will be conducted by the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization and its partners, the U.N. organization in Rome said. |
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