[By Haja Isatu Bah ]
The rate of degradation of water catchment areas in Kenya is alarming. According to the Kenya Water Towers Agency, Kenya’s forests and water towers contribute to 3.6% of the country’s GDP, hence the need to prevent further degradation of the nation’s water catchment areas. One of the crucial water catchments in Kenya that is experiencing a significant rate of degradation is the Mount Elgon water towers. It is a critical transboundary resource, being one of the five major water towers in Kenya. A water tower can be described as an elevated graphical region that includes plateaus, hills, and mountains with soils, vegetation, geology, and topography that supports infiltration, retention, reception, and precipitation’s percolation, resulting in the release of lakes, springs, rivers, swamps, and oceans. The Mount Elgon water towers serve as a water catchment for the drainage system of the Turkwel river in Kenya, Kyoga in Uganda, and the Lake Victoria basin is a habitat for more than thirty threatened faunal species globally and is therefore experiencing an alarming rate of anthropogenic impacts, which poses a threat to its benefits to the community.
The Mount Elgon region is experiencing a huge rate of deforestation as the population of the region increases. The local communities are highly dependent on agriculture, with more than 60% of the population owning an average of two acres of land, and an increase in population has encroached on the steeper slopes of this region, making it susceptible to habitat degradation. Unfortunately, cutting down trees and vegetation leaves the ground bare; hence the soil becomes loose. Loose soils are thus easily carried away, leading to soil erosion. Other threats being experienced by Mount. Elgon water towers include illegal logging on endangered tree species, human-wildlife conflict, limited conservation importance awareness, and inadequate support.The multiple benefits to the local community afforded by the water towers require better ecosystem management and improved restoration/conservation policies.
This region consists of forests, animal species, and rivers that require protection from human intervention to maintain the beautiful scenery. In 2019, more than 50 stakeholders from the region gathered in Kitale, Trans Nzoia to deliberate on the status of the water tower. Discussions and deliberations during this stakeholders event involved the ongoing consequences of human actions in the region.
The destruction of Mt. Elgon water towers can also negatively impact the potential to develop a thriving tourism sector in the region. The ecosystem protected areas, Mount Elgon National Park, Mount Elgon Forest Reserve, and the Chepkitale National Reserve have provided environmental and social co-benefits to the locals, such as tourist attractions, sports activities, and soil erosion protection. Without the water towers, the potential for ecotourism will drastically decline.
Furthermore, a lot of communities around that region depend on its water catchment for their water needs and utility. The Mt. Elgon Water Tower is fundamental for the region’s drainage system and millions of species of fauna and flora, supporting tourism, a crucial economic activity in Kenya. Therefore, a lot has to be done to protect the water towers from more destruction. The procedures and strategies must address the regeneration of the Mt Elgon water towers to their original state so that communities downstream and upstream can benefit from the ecosystem. This area’s protection is essential to ensure continued tourism attraction and environmental conservation that has many benefits, such as reduced soil erosion and rainfall attraction, among others. Therefore, the regeneration of the Mount Elgon water catchment area is essential not only for environmental reasons but also for the economic purposes of the local and neighboring communities.
Ways of preserving the Mount Elgon water catchment area include increasing natural tree cover through afforestation, while banning illegal activities such as logging, poaching, grazing and charcoal burning. In addition, the region has complicated enforcement of relevant laws governing protection of natural resources. The legislation and policy regarding deforestation can be revisited and improved on to curb the low levels of education and awareness among the local populations. These shifts would eventually mitigate the overharvesting of natural forest resources through campaigns, community mobilization and education can be created to implement change.
Works Cited
Kenya Water Towers Agency. “Mt Elgon water tower stakeholders converged in Kitale.” Kenya Water Towers Agency – Conserved water towers: Our shared heritage, 2020, watertowers.go.ke/mt-Elgon-water-tower-stakeholders-converged-in-Kitale/. Accessed 14 Dec. 2021.
Kenya Water Towers Agency. “Kenya Water Towers Status Report for Mt. Elgon” Kenya Water Towers Agency – Conserved water towers: Our shared heritage, 2020, retrieved from https://mountelgonfoundation.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Kenya-Water-Towers-report.pdf Accessed 20th April 2022.
Kenya Wildlife Service. Mount Elgon National park. Kws.go.ke, 2021, retrieved from http://www.kws.go.ke/content/mount-elgon-national-park. Accessed 12th January 2022.
Moore Sarah. What cause soil erosion? Azolifesciences.com, 2021, retrieved from https://www.azolifesciences.com/article/What-Causes-Soil-Erosion.aspx. Accessed 12th January 2022.
Russell, A., et al. Trends in forest conditions and implications for resilience to climate change under differing forest governance regimes: the case of Mount Elgon, East Africa. Vol. 225. CIFOR, 2017.