Factor sensitive heritage areas in petroleum and energy Bills

Despite these divergent imperatives between infrastructure proponents and conservationists, there is a growing understanding that the State needs to facilitate economic growth by investing in development projects.

But the government also needs to honour and protect the country’s unique natural heritage — the rivers, forests, parks, streams and lakes, which are the people’s treasure.

Unfortunately, the Energy Bill, 2017 and the Petroleum (Exploration, Development & Production) Bill, 2017, which are before the National Assembly, seem to ignore them.

LICENSES

The former, for instance, gives a licensee authority to “erect, fix, install or lay any electric supply lines, oil or gas pipelines, other infrastructure or apparatus in, through, upon, under, over or across any public street, road, railway, tramway, river, canal, harbour or government property, including forests, national parks, reserves and heritage sites, in the manner and on the conditions as provided in this Act”.

This provision presents the greatest threat to our critical ecological systems in recent times as it fails to exempt protected areas from the installation of structures. It also contravenes the framework environmental law — the Environmental Management and Coordination Act (EMCA), 2015 — and other sectoral laws.

PROTECTED AREAS

Protected areas are landscapes or seascapes that have been surveyed, demarcated and gazetted as such and include ecosystems such as parks, forests, wetlands and savannah, marine and arid and semi-arid areas. Access to or utilisation of such areas should only be in accordance with the EMCA, the sectoral laws and their respective management plans.

Protected areas — only about 8 per cent of Kenya’s total land area — are the cornerstones of biodiversity conservation and sustainable use of natural, cultural and social capital, yielding flows of economically valuable goods and services that benefit society and secure livelihoods.

They are also key to buffering communities from the unpredictable impact of climate change and are necessary for maintaining ecosystems as our life support mechanisms.

A detrimental impact on the critical terrestrial and marine ecosystems will only lead to a tragedy of the commons.

ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT

It is paramount that the Bills be subjected to strategic environmental assessment to ensure all possible impacts of the energy and petroleum development to the environment are identified and appropriate mitigation measures developed.

Additionally, there is a need for management plans for protected areas so that any activity there is done in accordance with them.

For instance, participatory land use zoning is a slow and uncertain endeavour, yet it remains one of the few options for integrating conservation with development.

SECTORAL LAWS

To safeguard our protected areas, any policy, strategy or law need to be aligned and harmonised with all sectoral laws governing protected areas.

At his inauguration, President Uhuru Kenyatta stated: “Over the next five years, we shall invest heavily in securing our water towers and river ecosystems to harvest and sustainably exploit the potential of our water resources.”

Recently, Deputy President William Ruto re-affirmed that “deforestation, degradation, encroachment on water towers and logging are undermining efforts to attain food security’.’

I, therefore, urge the National Assembly — in particular the Departmental Committee on Energy — to review Articles 206 (1) of the Energy Bill and 107 (1) of the Petroleum Bill to exempt protected areas from the offensive provision, subject to EMCA and the natural resources sectoral laws.

Mr Kamau is executive director, East African Wildlife Society. [email protected].