Corruption is hurting Kenya’s conservation credentials

What you need to know:

  • We have shrewd, well-equipped poachers, tons of corrupt officials and developers who can cook and eat anything anytime anywhere.
  • In the October of 2009, cabinet ministers of The Maldives held a half-hour meeting underwater. This feat sent a strong message to the international community about the possible fate of these island states. 
  • Kenya must spearhead responsible environmental exploitation within the region, Africa and the rest of the world.

When it comes to environmental policy in Kenya, we still find too much chewing gum tucked beneath the reading table. 

Nairobi prides itself on hosting one of the four world UN headquarters, the only one in the developing world. Kenya's capital is the exclusive host of a United Nations environment body, UNEP.

Nairobi was also a cradle of the Green Belt movement and Wangari Maathai, whom many disowned during her fight to save Nairobi’s Freedom Corner, was later held up as a hero after winning the Nobel Prize.  By then, all and sundry wanted to be her friend; life is like that.

Kenya has some of the most beautiful national parks and game reserves in the world and an amazing number of birds. The avifauna of Kenya includes a total of 1,132 known species, which puts Kenya among the top 10 countries with the most bird species.

Ironically, we also have the perfect recipe for environmental degradation and destruction, and the kitchen is hot. We have shrewd and well-equipped poachers, tons of corrupt officials, and developers who can cook and eat anything, anytime anywhere.

LOSING ENTIRE TERRITORIES

When we put this explosive mixture the pressure cooker of weak environmental bodies and deficient enforcement agencies we are ready for trouble. 

Environmental conservation is a relevant agenda both for the developing and developed worlds, and the environment is a common, shared resource.

The threat facing the world due to climate change is real.  Even beyond the question of extreme temperatures, some island states are staring at the risk of losing their entire territories due to rising sea levels. 

In the October of 2009, Cabinet ministers of The Maldives held a half-hour meeting underwater. This feat sent a strong message to the international community about the possible fate of these island states. 

Maldivian Minister of Fisheries and Agriculture Ibrahim Didi signs a declaration calling on countries to cut down carbon dioxide emissions ahead ahead of a major U.N. climate change conference in December, in the Maldives, October 17, 2009. REUTERS | MALDIVES GOVERNMENT

We cannot brush aside problems that are linked to the environment, including internal conflicts, desertification, corruption and poverty. For a moment, we may assume that some of these problems do not concern us, but they do because we do not live in isolation.

The international community has agreed that developed countries bear different responsibilities from those of the developing world, and it is understood that the development agendas of past ages might not have taken the concerns of the environment into account.  Those were the ages when interest of the self dominated interest of the neighbour and the future.

Whether this is true or not, the concern at the present moment, when some face an existential threat and others face a smoking-hot threat, demands that we put the question of guilt aside and save the ship.

MORE PROACTIVE

Environmental degradation is a concern for the Kenyan government. As a host state to the international community’s environmental mechanism, the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP), Kenya has a vanguard role in ensuring that its natural and artificial resources are exploited responsibly in accordance with the international obligations.

Kenya must spearhead responsible environmental exploitation within the region, Africa and the rest of the world.

The institutions charged with ensuring compliance with international standards of environmental conservation need to take a more proactive, even enthusiastic, approach to their mandates.

They must recognise that they hold the present and future fate of the country and the world. Their decisions, actions or omissions have potentially grave consequences.

We must recognise that the overarching goals of environmental conservation at international level are heavily reliant on what you and I do, on the way we behave.

After all, external environment is just a reflection of the inner self. This is why environmental degradation is directly proportional to our corruption levels.

Dr Franceschi is the dean of Strathmore Law School. [email protected], Twitter: @lgfranceschi