The Constitution of Kenya (Art 42(a), Art 69(1, a, b, c, d, e) enforcement through Art (70) Environmental Management being a concurrent function, National Government function on protection of the environment and natural resources with a view to establish a durable and sustainable system of development, including in particular (b) protection of wildlife and animals. Similarly, County Governments have significant roles in the realization of a safer and cleaner environment.
The Locust invasion was reported last year in several cities in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and Jordan a few months down the line Africa has been invaded through Ethiopia and Somali countries.
The ongoing invasion of millions of Locusts in parts of the country will cause catastrophic destruction and massive land degradation, economically damaging rangelands, croplands. Shared in here are our effective suggestions for sustainable mitigative measures against the escalating Locusts and moths invasions.
While standard procedure calls for fumigation by spraying a chemical in the air, this strategy creates another more fatal problem to animals and other important insects that complement ecosystems. The chemicals used to fumigate such an astronomical number of insects will create fatal environmental problems too far off areas which chemical is blown off towards human and animals and as the usual amount of monies which will be required towards these fallacies being an emergency, will open procurement procedure loopholes thus misuse of taxpayers monies.
Kenya is a signatory to several Conventions such as 1. Convention on International Trade on Endangered Species of Flora and Fauna 2. Convention for the protection of African Flora and Fauna.
The knee jerk, halfhearted measures being undertaken by the Ministry of Agriculture, is exposing the country to a difficult situation, exposing the country to food insecurity. If this invasion is not urgently addressed, the struggle to have a 10% Tree Cover will never be achieved; similarly, when the pests land in National Reserves and Game Parks, we as well will kiss goodbye to the tourism industry, thus rendering millions of Kenyans to joblessness.
1. Practical solutions to terminate the invasion is by targeting and generating powerful sound Decibel (dB) anything that generates sound decibel above 130 dB i.e., Jet Fighters, of Fireworks, Grenades in areas they are pasturing, hatching and feeding they instantly perish, thus with powerful equipment’s such as Mobile Discos this can help in rerouting and incapacitating and instantly annihilating the invasion.
2. Mobile Cordon Mesh Fences where old and fragile grasshoppers will be trapped and harvested.
3. The need for Sound/Decibel Mitigate measures will also create jobs and new business opportunities, that’s if the government through the Forest Users Associations, Forests Conservators and affected community groups, through National Government Affirmative Action Fund (NGAAF) collect and preserved in silo storages, vast numbers of locusts for manufacturing, supplements for fish, pigs and dog food industry, with a ready market nationally and International thus green growth.
Thus the use of poisonous, air pesticides model is highly discouraged, and we call for the government to embrace alternative idea which is practically safe, secure, sound, and environmentally friendly.
The Standard Group Plc is a
multi-media organization with investments in media platforms spanning newspaper
print operations, television, radio broadcasting, digital and online services. The
Standard Group is recognized as a leading multi-media house in Kenya with a key
influence in matters of national and international interest.
join