Let’s jealously, passionately conserve our environment

NAIROBI: In my many years as a career pilot, I got a clear bird’s eye view of the incredible forests, mountains, rivers, plains and wildlife that together make the earth.

I also flew across vast deserts and semi-arid lands that betray the devastating effects of destructive human activity on our fragile eco system. It takes a whole lot effort to conserve the environment for future generations, but it takes just a few reckless actions to destroy it.

The environmental images etched in my mind from my many miles in the air planted in me, perhaps sub-consciously, the urge to conserve our environment. I realised we do not have much time and latitude as a country to save our fast-dwindling forest cover, or minimise the carbon emissions that are warming our planet at an alarming rate.

From the skies, the so-called Kenyan water towers of the Mau, Aberdares and Mt Kenya forests show worrying signs of destruction due to human encroachment. There is always smoke billowing from scattered patches of the forests, indicating that charcoal merchants are busy making money from the natural heritage whose depletion could have devastating effects on the country’s climate and water security.

Kenya’s total forest cover stands at about 6.6 per cent, according to a ‘remote sensing’ study done by the Kenya Forest Service in 2013. This acreage is below the globally recommended threshold of at least 10 per cent.

It takes many years to grow a tree to maturity, yet it only takes a minute or less for the timber and charcoal merchants to fell them using their power saws. Many Kenyans have stood up to be counted in matters conservation, the foremost of them being the late Prof Wangari Maathai. Those who have had the chance of taking a leisurely walk or jog in Karura Forest know what an important carbon sink the forest is to Nairobi.

Globally, personalities such as former US Vice-President Al Gore and others have put in tremendous efforts to raise awareness on environmental conservation and offer solutions to the controversial global warming phenomenon. Besides the environmental activists, entrepreneurs have also made their contribution to environmental preservation—albeit while in pursuit of profit.

M-Kopa, a Kenyan start-up that relies on mobile money to connect rural households to solar power payable in small daily installments, has made a difference by eliminating the need for thousands of Kenyan households to use paraffin for lighting, effectively reducing carbon emissions and improving the health of customers.

Lake Turkana Wind Power Project, which is expected to inject 300 Megawatts of clean power into the national grid on completion, is also a big boost to environmental conservation. In my own way, I have tried to make a contribution to conservation by providing an alternative kind of charcoal for household and industrial use that leaves behind minimal carbon footprint. My challenge would be to the youth to take advantage of opportunities that exist to improve their economic welfare, while also making a contribution to environmental conservation.