The first Earth Day on April 22, 1970, mobilized 20 million Americans from all walks of life. Their actions led to the creation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the passage of the Clean Air, Clean Water, and Endangered Species Acts.
According to the
Earth Day Network, today, over one billion people in 192 countries participate in Earth Day activities, making it the largest civic observance in the world. This Year’s Earth day is a twofold global event. First, Earth Day’s Global 2016 Theme: Trees for the Earth, begs all able bodied person to come forward to be counted by planting trees. Over the next five years, as Earth Day moves closer to its 50th anniversary in 2020, it is calling upon everyone to help it achieve one of our most ambitious goals yet — planting 7.8 billion trees: one tree for every person on the planet.
Earth day Network estimates that our planet / Mother Earth is currently losing over 15 billion trees each year (equivalent to 48 football fields every minute). In the global south, trees are a lifeline in terms of tangible and non-tangible products and services much as they are being reduced nonstop. According
the State of East Africa Report, 2012, with increased population and higher population density expected in the future, the pressures on the region’s forests and other natural resources will intensify further. One clear indicator is the high rate of deforestation. Between 1990 and 2010 East Africa’s forested area shrank by 22 million hectares, and deforestation will continue to increase as more and more people inhabit the region. Therefore, Earth Day 2016 reminds us of the need to act if we are to survive in East Africa by securing the supportive functions trees. These include the water catchment functions (as in case of the Mau forest complex and Mountain Elgon) that ultimately determine the viability of fisheries activities downstream in rivers, lakes and streams over wide areas in East Africa. For example according to UNEP (2012), deforestation at a rate of 5,000 Hectares per year between 2000 and 2010 reduced the available water by 62 million cubic meters by 2010. This reduced agricultural production by Kshs 2.6 billion in irrigation agriculture.
State of forest resources in East Africa
According to the 2012 State of East Africa Report, in 1990 East Africa had 106.7 million hectares of forest. This area shrank by more than 9 per cent to 97.7 million hectares in 2000, and a further 13 per cent to 84.9 million hectares in 2010. In total, 21.8 million hectares of forests were cut down.
In 2010 Tanzania had the largest share of forest area (including wooded land) in East Africa, with 45 million hectares (53 per cent). However, the forested area has reduced by 14.6 million hectares, accounting for 67 per cent of the region’s total deforestation.
Kenya’s share of the forest area in 2010 was 32 million hectares (38 per cent), but this was almost 18 per cent less than in 1990. Kenya accounted for 33 per cent of the region’s forest depletion. Burundi also lost some 117,000 hectares of forest. Uganda and Rwanda have expanded their respective forest areas by 43,000 and 3,000 hectares over the last two decades. This is, however, a very small percentage compared to the total deforested area.
As part of Earth Day 2016, Mother Earth would actually demand from East Africa to take immediate steps to take steps in restoring the deforested areas equivalent to what has been lost over the last decade.
Forest cover: The challenge
Unfortunately efforts to replenish Mother Earth by planting trees and conserving the remaining forest by communities, groups, and Government, Intergovernmental and development agencies are demotivated by sudden pronouncements to degazette the remaining forest acreage throughout East Africa. For example, the plans to expurgate sections to meet immediate needs of industrial, agricultural and human settlement needs.
This definitely would make Mother Earth sob wildly (evidenced by sporadic rains, hail and wind storms, floods and prolonged droughts), with no commensurate attention from many of us despite the huge toll it has on the poor and the environment. Instead, more of what makes the Earth more despicable occupy our myopic minds. For example, in Uganda Luweero district council recently passed a resolution to have the only remaining
Nyimbwa natural forest reserve in the area (about 160 Hectares) turned into an industrial park without following the right procedures. In Kenya, Civil society and citizen groups are shouting loud to ‘
Save the Mau Now’ from an attempt to hive off 17,000 hectares that will jeopardizes the future of all Kenyans and to a larger extent East Africans thereby making Mother Earth yell with untold agony.
Any supportive policy framework?
Surprisingly East Africa is not short of conducive policies and laws to deter forest loss and degradation at the national level. The missing gap is how to coordinate sectors and professions to avoid ‘short-termism’ as ultimate objectives, respecting the views of other stakeholders in all decisions taken as well as deliberately investing in tree cover replenishment and other sustainable natural resources management programmes.
At the regional level, much as the East African Community (EAC) integration process (as per the Treaty) is moving on, sustainable management of forests and other natural resources needs to be given more attention. This can be through practical and strategic interventions. One of the recent laudable step in this direction (in support of the bridging gaps at the respective national level), is passing of ‘The EAC Forestry and Management Protection Bill, 2015’. The Bill is expected to “promote the development, protection, conservation, sustainable management and use of the forests in the Community especially trans-boundary forests ecosystems, in the interest of present and future generations. It further wants to espouse the scientific, cultural and socio-economic values of forests and harmonise national forest laws.”
However until it is rolled out in practice, with support from other already existing laws and policies, we cannot pronounce ourselves victorious over forest loss and degradation.
At the global level, the
global goals for sustainable development provide an opportunity for East Africa to benefit from the global resolve to increase tree cover through the call for all countries to take urgent action to combat climate change (
SDG 13); and to protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss (
SDG 15). In the same way the
Paris Agreement on Climate Change due to enter into force in 2020, provides 29 Articles related to forests, which is a significant global realisation of their potential to contribute to climate change adaptation and mitigation.
Possible target: Planting 139 million trees in East Africa
Hence, Earth Day 2016 theme: Trees for the Earth reminds us (especially in East Africa) to join in and plant trees to offset the challenges to human existence on Mother Earth. It is only non-discriminatory that each of the 139 million East Africans, plant one tree (be it a sapling, seedling, wilding for whatever potential benefit) on farm, school, own land or public land this year! Mother Earth is weeping now, but I am sure that once we do this, she will laugh heartedly while constantly embracing each of us on seeing this achievement.
Who knows? The community mobilization above could spill over into emergence of a more environmentally conscious East African people that secures implementation of all forest related policies and the SDGs to the dot, while supportive laws and institutions emerge.
