- Omedo said the programme focuses on conservation of environment and climate change mitigation.
- He noted that communities relying on the forest for their livelihood and should also be brought on board.
Image: CALISTUS LUCHETU
The United Nations Development Programme has revived Kakamega county's ambitious programme of fencing the Kakamega Forest.
The project stalled due to what the county termed as frustration by the national government.
A delegation from the UNDP led by Geoffrey Omedo held a meeting on Monday with the county secretary and head of public service CPA James Ochami.
“We will undertake the exercise under the Forestry and Lands Restoration Actions Programme," Omedo said.
He said FLRAP is being implemented in Kajiado, Narok, Elgeyo Marakwet and Kakamega counties.
Omedo said the programme focuses on conservation of environment and climate change mitigation.
Three months ago Kakamega Governor Wycliffe Oparanya complained that the national government departments were frustrating efforts to fence the Forest.
"We started the project, engaged all the concerned ministries in the national government, but they went silent. It is important that we can now revive the project," Oparanya said.
Oparanya said his administration had set aside the required amount, but state departments frustrated efforts to implement the project.
The county had set aside Sh100 million for the 117km project. The total amount required for the project was Sh336.9 million.
UNDP announced that they will facilitate the fencing of 15 kilometres of the tropical rain forest.
Omedo said UNDP decided to invest in fencing the forest to protect it from destructions by residents and restore its values.
He added that they will use their network to bring more stakeholders on board to ensure that the entire forest is fenced.
"The programme also entails strengthening the county's capacity to conserve the forest, educating the community on the importance of protecting the water catchment area and strengthening of governance of Community Forest Management Organisation," he said.
Ochami expressed confidence that UNDP will deliver the project.
"We need to learn from the fault start by the county and other stakeholders to correct the mistakes we made and ensure the project is successful" he said.
He urged UNDP to bring in the neighbouring counties like Vihiga and Nandi to be part of the project because they are also beneficiaries of the forest.
He noted that communities relying on the forest for their livelihood and should also be brought on board.
"You need to conduct a public participation meeting with the community for them to accept the project or else they will resist because they will feel the fencing is blocking them from accessing their source of livelihood," he said.
Environment, Natural Resources chief officer Eugene Milimo said it was good that a credible partner like UNDP will be collaborating with the county to undertake the programme.
He added that enactment of the Environment Management Act gave a framework for engagement with partners making it easy to work with partners like UNDP.
Oparanya said the initiative was meant to conserve what remains of the equatorial rainforest and use it as a tourist attraction facility to develop the western tourism circuit.
“I had gone as far as meeting governors in the Democratic Republic of Congo and sealed a deal where they were to transfer some gorillas to the forest after fencing," Oparanya said
The forest once covered the East and Central Africa region. It now occupies 200 square kilometres only.
There are more than 380 species of trees, 330 species of birds, 27 species of snakes, primates, more than 400 species of butterflies and mammals.
(Edited by Tabnacha O)
Image: CALISTUS LUCHETU