My colleague Helen Byron has recently returned from Kenya with news about the Tana River Delta, where a lot has been happening, as she reports here.
On the positive side, I am delighted to report that the land-use planning process for the Delta now firmly underway. I was one of around 65 participants who took part in a high-level meeting in the town of Malindi on the Kenyan coast between 14-17 September to discuss the need for a strategic plan for the Delta.
The Kenyan Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) hosted the meeting with NEMA (the Kenyan environmental regulator) and our partner Nature Kenya jointly providing the Secretariat. Key Kenyan government ministries and agencies including NEMA, the Ministries of Finance, Lands, Agriculture, Environment and Mineral Resources, Water and Irrigation, Fisheries, Kenya Forest Services, Kenya Wildlife Service, TARDA (Tana and Athi Rivers Development Authority) were all represented at the meeting, together with NGOs, media and international experts in the fields of land use and delta planning and environmental assessment.
Despite the very different perspectives of many of the participants the meeting had a fantastically positive atmosphere with all present in strong agreement that the current conflicts could not continue and that a new approach is essential.
The meeting included a workshop plus a field visit into the Delta to provide the opportunity to see the Delta and speak to the local people to understand the issues first hand. I visited the pro-conservation village of Marafa near the mouth of the Delta where the majority of the population are Muslim and make their livelihoods from farming.
Life here is not easy, with no land title the villagers find it hard to defend their farms from the hungry mouths of large herds of cattle. This is exacerbated in times of drought like they are experiencing now, when pastoralists bring their animals from as far afield as northern Kenya and Somalia to feed in the Delta. And when the villagers try and stand their ground people get hurt. Only a few days before our visit a villager was shot dead trying to defend his farm and many of the villagers bear obvious panga (knife) wounds.
And as if this is not enough, there is tension in the village between a minority who support the proposed Bedford Biofuel jatropha project (at present at ‘pilot’ stage, but which it intends to roll out to a total of 6 ranches) and have agreed to lease the village ranch (Kon-Dertu) to Bedford and the majority who say this agreement was made without their knowledge or consent and is not what they want for the land they have occupied for decades. In this context I was blown away by the warm welcome from the woman from the village and their insistence that I join them for a traditional dance (taking Stepping Up for Nature to a new level ed!). An experience to be treasured forever.
For a glimpse of Tana including footage from our site visit take a look at this. Some of the interviews are in local languages but the sentiments are clear. The man talking 4 minutes in to the film is the dynamic Peter Odhengo from OPM who is championing the planning process.
The meeting closed by adopting a Communiqué. This confirmed the launch of the Tana Delta planning initiative and agreed:
On the less positive side the Canadian company Bedford Biofuels are continuing to push their project, including using some rather heavy handed approaches such as turning up un-invited at the planning workshop and seemingly staying quiet while ranchers supporting their project threaten those opposing it with violence. However, their position is starting to look less secure. It has emerged that the two NEMA Directors suspended in July 2011 are accused of acting irregularly in granting the licence to Bedford Biofuels, NEMA’s Chairman, Mr Francis Ole Kaparo, has said that the licence had been awarded in spite of mounting scientific evidence which has exposed the claims made for jatropha as false and has called for the licence to be cancelled.
We will wait and hope that the Kenyan authorities will cancel the licence. But, in the meantime there is plenty to do as we work with Nature Kenya to take the newly launched planning/SEA process forward. Exciting times! I’ll tell you about progress in a future update.
Helen Byron puts the step into Stepping Up
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