• CS raises concerns over the rate at which such spaces are being grabbed.
• Says there is a need to raise awareness with regards to the importance of green spaces.
Image: EZEKIEL AMING'A
Kenya does not have a policy on sustainable use of green spaces.
Environment CS Keriako Tobiko said this on Thursday during a virtual meeting on Green Spaces and Emerging Trends.
“As we map out green spaces, there is a need to develop a policy framework,” he said.
"There are bits and pieces of legislation giving different mandates to different agencies.”
Tobiko said giving counties a mandate over green spaces “is a serious gap”.
The CS said what is happening in some of the remaining green spaces is a sad state of affairs.
“The public will be heard [when developing a policy on green spaces],” he said.
The virtual meeting organised by the Wangari Maathai Foundation and partners deliberated on green spaces and mental health.
It explored why and how the Covid-19 pandemic exposed the dire need for quality green spaces.
Tobiko said there is a need for raising awareness with regards to the importance of green spaces. “They [green spaces] are not to be grabbed,” he said.
The CS said he will organise a meeting with the Nairobi Metropolitan Services to consolidate initiatives aimed at coming up with a policy.
World Resources Institute vice president and regional director for Africa Wanjira Maathai said there must be inclusivity in access to green spaces.
“Authorities must manage expansion even as more people are expected in our cities,” Maathai said.
She said Kenya is privileged to have green spaces such as Uhuru Park and Karura Forest, among others, a stone's throw away from the city.
“We have got to give prominence to green spaces, there is a need to protect them and mean it,” she said.
Dr Collins Odote, a director with the University of Nairobi’s Centre for Advanced Studies in Environmental Law and Policy challenged, urged the government to put up a policy on green spaces as well as an institution with responsibility.
WildlifeDirect CEO Paula Kahumbu said green spaces are natural buffer zones. “The economic value of green spaces is being taken for granted and that is why they are under threat,” she said.
Kahumbu faulted the government for treating NGOs as enemies every time they fight for green spaces.
During the virtual meeting, infrastructure was cited as the main culprit eating up Kenya’s green spaces.
Those in attendance cited the standard gauge railway, which cuts through the Nairobi National Park, as one of them.
Last year, the government announced that it would implement the controversial Sh62 billion JKIA-Westlands Expressway cutting through Uhuru Park, sparking public outrage.
Following objections by conservationists, the government announced that it had suspended the plan, albeit verbally.
The four-lane carriageway once completed will run over 27km, linking Mlolongo and Jomo Kenyatta International Airport to the Nairobi-Nakuru highway in Westlands.
The project is meant to ease the flow of traffic. It will be funded by the Chinese firm China Roads and Bridge Company. The company will recoup its investment from tolls.
Edited by R.Wamochie