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Why
Conserve Kakamega Forest?
Twenty percent of Kenya's species are endemic to the country, a majority of which are endemic to it's forests. At the turn of the century there were 240,000 hectares (ha) of rain forest in Kenya. Now there are only 23,000 ha left due to severe deforestation and fragmentation. For the most part this is due to encroachment of shambas (small farms) and tea plantations as well as both legal and illegal government sanctioned harvesting by the timber industry. Kakamega forest is the eastern-most rain forest in East Africa and the only rainforest found in Kenya. As an equatorial rain forest, it receives approximately two meters of rain per year, concentrated in two wet seasons. These environmental conditions create a forest that is extremely high in diversity of plant and animal life. Kakamega Forest was ranked as the third highest priority
for conservation among forests in Kenya by the International Union
of Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in 1995. This was due
to both species richness and habitat rarity, which are both high
priorities for conservation in Kakamega Forest. Species are threatened
by the great pressures of harvesting put on the forest. Kakamega
Forest is severely over-exploited due to its small size and large
surrounding population - Kakamega forest is located amidst the densest
populated agricultural center in the world at 600 people per square
km. In addition, corrupt logging schemes and illegal
charcoal harvest by government officers and commercial agencies
are severly depleting forested land. Kakamega Forest
is highly valued by researchers and is used by both local and international
educational groups, but is not as well known for tourism as other
reserves in Kenya. Kakamega forest has provided numerous and invaluable resources to the surrounding people for hundreds of years. By the beginning of this century, the Tiriki subtribe of the Luhya had settled around the forest and were farming as much in the forest as around it. Fuel wood, grass for thatching, medicinal plants and trees, and land for grazing have been services that the forest has provided. In the 1920's gold was discovered and the colonial government declared the forest to be a 'County Council Forest' and all settlers of the forest were evicted. At the same time, valuable hardwoods including Elgon olive, Mukomari and African satinwood were logged from the forest. This initial logging took the oldest and 'best' of the trees in the forest. In the 1930's the forest was gazetted as a government forest reserve. Although gold mining in Kakamega was unproductive and did not continue on a large scale, timbering continued for the next fifty years until the early 1980's when the government imposed a ban on logging under the realization of the forests scientific value. Over this time of logging the forest shrunk and became fragmented as clear cut logging along with encroaching farm development chipped away at the boundaries. Plantations of exotic fuel and pole wood were often planted to replace the clear cut indigenous forests. Under control of the Forestry Department (FD), several managementprograms existed in the forest during the years of logging. One included the 'shamba system' (farm system) by which farmers were encouraged to growcrops on clear cut land in return for protecting saplings planted by the department. This system was dropped in the 1980's due to widespread abuses of the program by local farmers. Tea zones were planted at the edges of some parts of the forest to hedge against further deforestation, but apparently these have also been unsuccessful. Management strategy narrowed after the 1980's logging ban to center on plantation development and harvesting with little emphases on maintaining the existing forest or involving the local community. The Current Situation Kakamega Forest is listed as a gazetted National Reserve by the Forestry Department of Kenya. Management programs at this time focus around law enforcement, licensing of permitted extraction of forest produce, control of problem animals, maintenance of infrastructure such as trails, roads and buildings, and education and tourism development. However, little funding is available for these programs and much of the needed management is left undone because of underfunding. Additionally, there are fuel wood and pole wood plantations (of exotic species) within the forest that are managed for harvest. These plantations have met with limited success. There are many problems caused by the rapid increase in human population growth around the forest that have resulted in increased pressures on the forest itself, thus compounding the management problems. Legal as well as illegal collection of fuel wood (at 5 times the sustainable rate) are hastening the downfall of the forest along with over-harvesting of various plants for local medicinal use, pole wood for construction of new homes, and fiber for ropes. These activities are now supposed to occur only by those holding a licence to harvest forest crops, however, the number of licences given out are not based on actual forest data, and, much harvest occurs without licence. Widespread government corruption was recently exposed in an article in Kenya's largest newspaper, The Nation (April 20, 1999). It was revealed that district forest officers in the Kakamega region (along with other areas in Kenya) are illegially authorizing timbering of endemic trees from 'conserved' areas of the forest. This illegal harvesing along with poor but legal logging management have resulted in alarming rates of deforestation Over 50% of the forest has been lost in the last 25 years. Not only is the forest growing smaller, but it is being fragmented into islands of indigenous growth separated by clear cuts and forest plantations. For the Future Management focus is now slated to shift from plantation oriented planning and non-community based decision making to multi-purpose management with community participation. The Kakamega Forest Management Unit (KFMU) has been formed from the Forestry Department, Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) and the former Kenya Indigenous Forest Conservation Programme (KIFCON) to work on a management strategy that suites these slated changes. It is unknown to the authors when and if these shifts have been made. Kakamega forest, as well as other indigenous forests, provide several services and benefits: catchment protection, wildlife conservation, pole and fuel wood conservation, and provisions of medicinal plants and animals. The need to ensure all of these benefits on a continued basis has resulted in a zoning management scheme that attempts to reconcile the often conflicting management goals of conservation and production. A version of this scheme (based on plans for similar systems in forests across the country), has been developed for Kakamega forest. Under this system, three major zones are named with each having more specific sub-zones. KFMU and KIFCON have proposed to divide Kakamega Forest into four sub zones: protected zone, rehabilitation zone, subsistence zone and plantation zone. The protected zone is the central part of the forest and provides a core for biodiversity conservation. No extraction of forest products will be allowed in these areas. Natural vegetation will remain intact. Tourism, research and religious activities may occur there as long as they do not disturb the habitat. Two protected zones in Kakamega will be connected by a rehabilitation zone. In this zone, native plants will be protected and exotic plants are removed. The goal of this zone is to reconnect the fragmented northern and southern blocks of the forest. The subsistence use zone retains it's natural cover but is used by local people to extract permitted forest produce in a sustainable way. No high impact commercial harvesting will be permitted in this zone. Subsistence zones fall under the major utilization zone category which also includes commercial use zones (of which none are slated for Kakamega because of past over-harvesting) and community use zones which may be designated in the future from the failed Nyayo Tea Zones. Community use zones would be used by the community for grazing or woodlots but no permanent crop planting. The plantation zones in Kakamega will be made up of all existing exotic and indigenous plantations except for those in the protection zones that are designated for rehabilitation. Ideal guidelines for the conservation of Kakamega
Forest would be that none of the existing forest be cleared and
used for housing, agriculture, etc. and thus further
fragmentation and decreased land area would not occur. The ecosystems
in the forest would be maintained to ensure species survival and
biological diversity.
People and their effect on the forest The majority of families living around the forest and making use of its resources are of the Luhya tribe. Within the Luhya tribe, the Tiriki and Isukha clans are most abundant in the Kakamega region. Most families live on self-sustaining shambas. The primary crops grown by the families in this region are maize, beans, cassava, bananas, and sukuma wiki. Due to the two rainy seasons, two growing seasons occur each year, which accelerates the rate at which nutrients are taken from the soil. This continual depletion of nutrients makes it more difficult for forested land to reestablish when farms are abandoned. For the local families, the forest is extremely important for several reasons. Firewood is the dominant energy source. Women can often be seen carrying large quantities of firewood out of the forest which will later be used for cooking and/or building material. Many families still rely on the forest for medicinal herbs. Over 50 species of forest plants are used medicinally. Finally, the forest is regarded as extremely important for a number of ceremonies and religious practices. Grass Roots Organizations
KEEP KEEP has the following objectives:
The second group is the Kakamega Regional Christian Science Environmental Group, KARECSEN, which has similar aims as KEEP, but is geared towards adult church groups. This group emphasizes that protecting biological diversity is a way of respecting God's creation. Both groups are non-profit organizations with little financial support, therefore they can only access a limited number of Kenyans. Groups such as these are essential for educating the surrounding area and therefore increasing the chance that this forest and all its inhabitants will survive for generations to come. Education/Research Center There has been a strong effort to build an education center that will be located near Isecheno Forest Station which will be used for school, church, and research groups. Building the education center is slated to occur between June and August 1999 thanks to a grant from the Pittsburgh Zoo. It will eventually be an important component in Kakamega Forest's conservation efforts, however funds are still needed for educational materials. |
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It
is essential for people from the surrounding communities to be involved
in the conservation efforts. There are two grass roots
conservation organizations in Kakamega Forest as of 1999. Wilberforce
Okeka, chief guide and conservation activist is the inspirational
leader of these organizations. The first is the Kakamega
Environmental Education Program, KEEP, which focuses on environmental
education programs for primary and secondary school children from
the surrounding areas. The idea behind this program is
that the larger community will be reached via the children who spend
time in the forest, learning about the importance of sustainable
land use and planting seedlings in the nursery, the trees from which
are latter planted around the forest to ease the pressures put on
the interior forest region.
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Earlham
College · 801 National Road West · Richmond, Indiana
47374-4095 |