Stakeholders underscore need to conserve forest as World marks day

NAIROBI, KENYA: World forest day was today marked in Kenya with stakeholders championing for more awareness on the importance of forest in supply of water.

The aim of the International day of forests in 2016 is to celebrate all types of forest and raise awareness of sustainable management, conservation and sustainable development for the benefit of current and future generations.

“During today’s International Day of Forests we are celebrating the ways in which forests and trees sustain and protect us. This year we are raising awareness of how forests are key to the planet’s supply of freshwater, which is essential for life,” said Jackson Bambo, National Coordinator, Kenya Forests Working Group.

“This year we are raising awareness of how forests are key to the planet’s supply of freshwater, which is essential for life,” he said.

According to Mr. Bambo, it is not possible to sum up the importance of forests in just a few words.

He says forests impact on daily lives in so many ways, even in the midst of a busy, noisy, concrete city centre.

Forests serve as a watershed. This is because almost all water ultimately comes from rivers and lakes and from forest-derived water tables. Some rivers running through forests are also kept cool and from drying out. "The Amazon is by far the largest watershed and largest river system in the world occupying over 6 million square kilometers. Over two-thirds of all the fresh water found on Earth is in the Amazon Basin's rivers, streams, and tributaries." - RainTree

Economic benefits of forest includes for example, plantation forests provide humans with timber and wood, which is exported and used in all parts of the world. They also provide tourism income to inhabitants.

Over the past 50 years, about half the world's original forest cover has been lost, the most significant cause for that being humans beings' unsystematic use of its resources. “When we take away the forest, it is not just the trees that go. The entire ecosystem begins to fall apart, with dire consequences for all of us.”