Last Wednesday, October 19 2016,
President Uhuru Kenyatta launched the second phase of the SGR (Standard Gauge
Railway). Speaking at Em-bulbul in Kajiado County, the President took the
opportunity to speak out on the SGR and Nairobi National Park (NNP).
According to President Kenyatta, “the
construction of the SGR will not cause any disruption to NNP”. Moreover, the
President added, “every care has been taken to ensure that there is no
environmental degradation and the animals will be taken care of”. In the
governments view, the construction of the 18 meter high 6.4-kilometer single
line elevated bridge will not disrupt wildlife or compromise the ecological
integrity of Kenya’s oldest national park.
President Kenyatta’s remarks were
directed to the conservation community and some politicians who in the
President’s view are “inciting people against the project passing through NNP”. According to conservation groups, building
the single line bridge across NNP will destroy the park’s ecosystem and
displace wildlife from their natural habitat.
The President’s remarks are especially
weighty especially after the National Environment Tribunal ordered China Road
and Bridge Corporation (Kenya) to stop construction of SGR Phase 2A until the
appeal filed by Mr. Okiya Okoiti and Kenya Coalition of Conservation and
Management against NEMA is heard and determined.
In the President’s view, “we have a big
opportunity to grow our economy”. President Kenyatta’s view is perhaps informed
by some experts who claim that the completion of the SGR will add 1.5 percent
to Kenya’s GDP while boosting trade by – surprise, surprise – supporting the
tourism industry. But according to conservation groups, hiving off sections of NNP
erode wilderness quality and attractiveness of the park, hence affect tourism.
Conservationists and the government are
digging in for battle. What do ecologists know about conservation and
infrastructure? The impact of Infrastructure on biodiversity has spawned a new
and active field of study known as “road ecology”.
Known impacts of roads, railways and
pipeline include effects on species diversity, habitat loss and habitat
fragmentation. For these impacts there are standard pre-construction mitigation
measures including enhancement and creation of replacement habitats and
management of pests and weeds.
What ecologists do not know is how
infrastructure corridors (on the surface or elevated) reduce habitat
permeability or the ease with which wildlife moves through the landscape.
Moreover, ecologist knowledge about how transportation infrastructure affects
behavioral responses and hence, within or between species interactions. Such
interactions could have huge consequences on mortality – through predation – or
breeding success among major groups of wildlife.
Acting in combination with the
increasing isolation and reduction in size of NNP, the impact of infrastructure
on wildlife could touch off an inexorable and catastrophic extinction of
significant biodiversity in NNP. In my view NNP is the quintessential fragile
wilderness on the precipice. We must not push it.
Now is the time to heed the words of
Prophet Isaiah; “Come now let us reason
together” for the sake of posterity. We can preserve the riches of nature and grow
our economy.
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