The Tana River Delta has featured a lot in this blog, but not recently. I’ve received an update from Helen Byron who, as the RSPB’s Senior International Site Casework Officer, has been working closely with our partners, BirdLife Kenya in their campaign to save the Delta.
I’ve reported on the Tana River Delta, Kenya including on the plight of the villagers who were forcibly evicted from Gamba village at the end of 2010 to make way for an unsuccessful food programme.
Over 1000 people - Wardei pastoralists grazing their cows and goats – were evicted and set up a in a place called Walkon, 4.5 miles away from Gamba. Most of the children dropped out of school after the move because of the distance back to the school and the only water came from a drainage canal of the Government farm contaminated with chemicals until good Samaritans drilled the village a borehole.
In late 2011, the flooding returned, probably to the level that is normal to Tana Delta. The new village was established in a significant dry period and so became submerged in water, forcing a temporary return to Gamba.
Flooding in Walkon forcing residents to relocate to temorary homes back in Gamba (below)
The water submerging Walkon village is now subsiding, however, there are pools around the village which have been taken over by hippos and crocodiles. The villagers are forced to wade to reach their huts and predictably diseases such bilharzias and malaria have increased.
This sad story emphasises why proper land use planning for the Delta is so urgently needed. We’re pleased that the strategic land use planning process for the Tana River Delta, launched last September, is now well underway.
This process will involve all stakeholders and zone different areas of the Delta for certain types of activities including conservation and development activities such as farming and livestock rearing. A Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA), run in parallel, will inform development of the plan and ensure it sets out a truly sustainable future for the Delta – a Kenyan Futurescape.
Our partner Nature Kenya is playing a key role in the planning process which is being supported by DFID (UK Aid) money and should be finalised by autumn 2013.
Helen will keep us posted as the planning process continues – it’s a stark reminder of the cost of failure which is measured in human lives, not just the damage to the irreplaceable Tana River Delta.
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