• The hunter-gatherer people have often been evicted by KFS violently as the government moves to protect the water towers
• But there is often the disagreement between the Sengwer and the government over their being in the forest
Image: MATHEWS NDANYI
The Sengwer indigenous community is accusing the Kenya Forest Service of frustrating their land rights, way of life and conservation efforts.
The hunter-gatherer people, who are historically located in the Embobut forest, have often been evicted by KFS violently as the government moves to protect the water towers.
But there is often disagreement between the Sengwer and the government over their being in the forest.
While the indigenous community argues it is better placed to conserve through their knowledge and understanding of the forests, the government has accused them of destruction.
To demonstrate their commitment, the Sengwer say they are planning to plant 10 million trees in four to five years.
They have welcomed President William Ruto’s tree planting initiative, saying they have already put in place a plan to achieve their conservation goal.
Elias Kimaiyo, a member of the community in Embobut and an activist, said they have leased some land for a tree nursery.
“For many years that we have been agitating for our land rights, we also wanted to participate in meaningful conservation of our forests. But the main challenge is that KFS and the Ministry of Environment have not been supportive,” Kimaiyo said in an interview in Embobut.
"When our land rights were taken away after the enactment of the Forest Act in 2016, and even earlier in 1954, when it was declared a protected area, we saw a decline in forest cover because the Sengwer way of life, which includes conservation, was halted by these colonial retrogressive polices.”
He said even as they fight for their land rights, they know climate change can’t wait, and "it needs to be addressed urgently".
“We decided as a community to do something. We approached KFS and requested for 10 acres near here, where we used to do our cultural practices for a tree nursery, and a cultural centre to teach our children forest conservation,” Kimaiyo said.
"They refused and rejected our letter. We even went to meet [former Environment] PS Chris Kiptoo in his office.”
Tackling climate change, the activist said, needs collaboration, especially in mitigating it.
They want to start with 50,000 seedlings, and be at 10 million in five years.
To do this, Kimaiyo says, they need support from the Kenya Forestry Research Institute, the KFS and partners interested in conservation.
He said beyond conversations at COP27, which was underway during the visit, and Ministry of Environment boardrooms, the real work should be done within the localities.
“That’s where we need them to come here and support our ideas.”
Image: ELIUD KIBII
Ruto has vowed to lead the way in the planting of five billion trees to fight climate change. He wants to double the number in 10 years, adding five billion more in his speech at COP27.
In his speech at Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt, the President said he has launched an ambitious project to increase the national tree cover from the current 12.13 per cent to 30 per cent in 10 years.
"We intend to accomplish this by first growing 15 billion trees on about 10.6 million hectares throughout the country at an estimated cost of $5 billion," the President said.
His call has been taken up by various stakeholders.
At a joint media briefing with Spain Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez at State House on October 26, Ruto said the tree planting initiative will aid in combating the ravaging drought, the worst in 40 years.
Environment CS Soipan Tuya on December 7 also said Kenya will on December 21 launch the tree-growing campaign.
Kimaiyo urged Ruto to deploy officers from the ministry and KFS to work with the communities.
“We can provide the manpower and all we need is to be facilitated to get that 10 acres so we build a big nursery bed as an example in these Cherengany Hills,”Kimaiyo said.
He, however, lamented that KFS evicted them despite their efforts in forest conservation.
Image: EZEKIEL AMING'A
VIOLENT EVICTIONS
According to Amnesty International, the Sengwer have endured violent evictions from Embobut forest by KFS since 2009.
In January 2014, for instance, Amnesty said KFS guards and police moved into the forest and burnt up to 1,500 homes.
"On January 16, 2018, one man was shot dead and another seriously injured during a forced eviction by armed KFS guards. Since December 29, 2017, more than 300 houses have been burnt to the ground," AI said in the Families Torn Apart: Forced Evictions of Indigenous People in Embobut Forest, Kenya report in May 2018.
This is after the government in 2013 decided to relocate and resettle all residents of Embobut Forest to reduce deforestation.
On January 17, 2018, the then EU Ambassador to Kenya, Stefano Dejak, condemned the killing and the shooting.
Dejak said, "Yesterday's shooting took place after we had formally alerted Kenya's government that the use of force by Kenya Forest Service guards in the Embobut Forest or elsewhere against innocent locals would lead the EU to suspend its financial support for conservation work on the country's water towers."
"Accordingly, we are now suspending the support to the Water Towers Programme with the Government of Kenya," he said.
This infuriated KFS, leading to the evictions.
So violent were they that attracted the attention of three international rapporteurs: John H Knox (Special Rapporteur on the issue of human rights obligations), Michel Forst (Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders) and Victoria Tauli-Corpuz (Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples).
The KFS has blamed the Sengwer for the destruction of the forest.
The community, however, denies this, saying it is not in their interest to destroy the forest as it would be detrimental to their lifestyle.
Image: ELIUD KIBII
COMMUNITY IN CONSERVATION
Mzee Paul Kitum, the chairman of the Sengwer council at Embobut, said the government would do better in conservation by partnering with his community because they know the forest and how to mobilise the people. He, however, regretted the government has sidelined them.
“As you can see, where we are, we have organised ourselves as the Sengwer to deal with this issue of climate change to see how we can plan by ourselves. And that’s why we are starting this tree nursery,” he said in Kiswahili.
“We want to grow the 10 million trees so the government can see the Sengwer are the ones who actually know how to conserve the forest.
"So, it is good for KFS to come and partner with us and stop the evictions,” Kitum said, adding the evictions are not the solution as they know the indigenous trees and the sections they grow.
Mzee Joseph Kiptoo said the forest is not being protected the way it should because the community living around or inside it is not being involved.
“For instance, we have people getting into the forest and felling trees and they are only arrested after cutting down the trees,” Kiptoo said.
"Had they engaged us, we would be the first people to know if anyone is cutting down a tree. There is also overgrazing in the forest, which would be controlled if the community is involved.”
He also observed that degraded areas can be easily be restored because they have the indigenous knowledge of the trees that grow in the forest.
Attempts to get a response from KFS were futile.
The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has recognised the role of indigenous communities in conservation efforts.
The report recognises that securing the rights of Indigenous peoples and local communities, livestock herders and farmers encourages sustainable farming and forestry.
It also says the approach protects wildlife and habitats, enables people to live sustainably off their lands, and reduces the risk of climate actions.
Prior to the evictions, the Sengwer had successfully secured a High Court injunction in 2014, stopping all the evictions until all outstanding issues were resolved.
EXPERT VIEW
Liz Alden Wiley, a consultant on customary land, observes that there is a contradiction between Article 62 (1) (g) (government forest is public land and not community land) and Article 63 on community land, which provides that community land shall vest in and be held by communities identified on the basis of ethnicity, culture or similar community of interest.
"Also courts (or at least some courts) have tended to put conservation before people and human rights," Wiley said.
Acknowledging the matter was pending before the Court of Appeal, Emily Kinama, an advocate of the High Court, said what was argued before the Environment and Land Court was that Article 63 (2) (d) (ii) of the Constitution recognises that ancestral lands traditionally occupied by hunter gatherer communities are defined as community lands.
"At the ELC, the Sengwer community argued that several government documents, such as the Carter Commission Report of 1932, task-force report on Embobut Forest of 2009-10 at paras. 2.1, 4.4 and 5, found that the Sengwer (Kimala) were in Embobut forest from pre-colonial times.
"It also states in its recommendations that they are the largest and most deserving category of forest residents who do not have any original home other than the forest, which they consider their home even though they have no legal occupation documentation,"Kinama said in an interview.
Kinama added that it was argued the TJRC eport found the expulsion of the Endorois, the Ogiek, the Sengwer, the Wataa, the Banjuni, the Boni, the Talai and other communities from their ancestral lands, and the allocation of forest lands to other communities, had led to their destruction and the traditional livelihood of the communities.
This rendered it virtually impossible for hunter-gatherers to practice their culture.
Additionally, the Indigenous Peoples’ Plan (the Ilchamus, the Ogiek and the Sengwer) of the Kenya Agricultural Productivity Sustainable Land Management Programme, a document prepared by the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute in 2006, recognises that most of the ancestral land of the Sengwer is occupied either by other ethnic groups or demarcated as forests, which prohibits legal settlements or agriculture.
"The Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous people, Rodolfo Stavenhagen, on his mission to Kenya on February 27, 2007, at para 39, also shows the Sengwer of Cherangany Hills had continuously been denied access to their traditional hunting and gathering grounds, and the dispossession of their land took place during colonial and post-colonial times," Kinama said of the submissions.
The Sengwer further argued, she said, they are a hunter gatherer group as recognised by several government documents.
The history of their testament is they lived in Embobut, which they still rely on for honey harvesting, traditional medicines, fruits and cultural and religious practices, and it's where their forefathers are buried.
"All this shows Article 63 (20 (d) (ii) [community land] applies to them," she said.
In her opinion, the court didn't analyse whether the Sengwer are a hunter and gatherer community, and that Embobut forest is their ancestral land under Article 63 (2) (d) (ii) of the Constitution.
"Instead, it dismissed the petition and stated the petitioner could approach the NLC under historical land injustices claim to have their matter resolved there," she said.
Kinama maintains KFS is barred by the Court of Appeal order from carrying out any form of evictions pending the determination of the case.
"At the Environment and Land Court the community argued the evictions against the community, where houses were burned and people injured and families evicted, was contrary to the law on how evictions should take place," the advocate said.
The law includes the UN Basic Principles and Guidelines on Development based Evictions and Displacement, as well as Section 152A-I of the Land Act.
"They cannot conduct any evictions as we speak as it will be contrary to conservatory orders," she said.
The evictions have often disrupted their life, and on this day, November 12, the Sengwer were sharing some sheep they received from a donor with the Marakwet, who hosted them when they were evicted from Embobut.
The high breed sheep is to improve the local breed and ultimately improve the well-being and living standards of the people.