The race is on to stop Kenya’s Tana River Delta becoming another tragic example of the rush for short term gain crushing the interests of local people and destroying a vital natural environment.
You can read about why the Tana River Delta is so special here and there’s an update published, here, by BirdLife International.
To cut a long story short, an array of multinational companies and an agency of the Kenyan government are queuing up to convert the rich environment of the delta into land growing sugar and biofuels. In addition, mining for titanium is on the cards.
Our BirdLife International partner, NatureKenya, has been in thick of campaigning and backed a legal challenge to stop the conversion of 20,000 ha of the delta to sugar cane production. This was overturned on a technicality and now time is pressing to mount further legal challenges.
Evictions of local people are already starting and NatureKenya’s Serah Munguti has been visiting the delta to discuss the crisis with people in their local communities. The good new is that individuals from the delta are joining with NatureKenya to mount further legal challenges. You can hear Serah on an earlier visit to the delta on our Nature’s Voice podcast (click here and listen to episode 28). With her on that trip was Helen Byron, the RSPB’s Senior International Casework officer.
Helen’s deep impression of that trip was that the delta is a magical place simply teaming in wildlife (Helen got as close as she ever wants to be to a crocodile!) and is a rich tapestry of culture with communities of Orma cattle herders, Pokomo farmers and Bajuni fisherman. The delta is a lifeline for these people – and stopping this precious life-blood by conversion of vast swathes of the delta to plantations would be nothing short of disaster for these communities.
The ingredients of an effective campaign are coming together and the RSPB will be working to support NatureKenya. Helen will be coordinating our work which will include supporting a new legal challenge and endeavours to get Tana Delta listed as a Ramsar site, recognising its international importance. RSPB will also be helping NatureKenya look for funding to facilitate development of a long-term plan for sustainable development of the delta – ensuring livelihoods for local people while protecting valuable biodiversity.