Today is World Wetlands Day. Wetlands play a key role in sustaining ecosystems by ensuring water supply is uninterrupted. As Kenyans join global citizens in marking the day, the big question is whether we have sufficiently protected our wetlands. Only this week on Thursday, did the Environment Cabinet secretary declare intention to gazette the Ewaso Narok Wetland, which is the source of Ewaso Nyiro River, that sustains life in the semi-arid northern rangelands of Laikipia, Isiolo, Samburu and Wajir counties.
It is also ironical that the celebrations will be held in Rumuruti, just a few kilometres from the wetland. This small dusty town is the headquarters of Laikipia County. Once the county moves to Rumuruti, there will be urbanisation, which is the first threat to the yet to be protected wetland. Does the county have an integrated physical development plan? If there is none, then this is a recipe for trouble finding its way northward. This could be a failure by the national and county governments, which have all of a sudden woken up to brewing trouble over the water resource.
One may be tempted to ask where the National Environment Management Authority (Nema) has been. Why has it taken so long for Nema to advise its parent ministry over this critical wetland? How many other wetlands out here are at risk but are yet to be protected? In Siaya, the Yala Swamp, a critical filter of water that enters Lake Victoria and an important ecosystem is under threat as the county and national governments look the other way.
Along the Coast, mangroves are at risk mainly from human activity and pollution with Nema accusing counties of not doing enough. This brings to the fore another quagmire. Different agencies charged with environmental conservation are pulling in different directions. In Lake Naivasha, the Water Resource Authority seeks to revise the riparian zone, an activity Nema argues, has not been all-inclusive. If Government agencies cannot work in synergy, how can it expect the citizens to drive the conservation agenda? Also lacking is public education on why wetlands are critical. It is no surprise that you will find livestock grazing right inside Enapiuapiu Swamp, the source of the Mara River, which is the mainstay of the Maasai Mara Reserve or right at Ewaso Narok Swamp.
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