Environment Cabinet Secretary Deborah Barasa addresses media ahead of Mazingira Day, on October 5 / SCREENGRABEnvironment Cabinet Secretary Deborah Barasa has said village elders are being included in the government’s efforts to prepare communities for El Niño and support environmental restoration.
Barasa said the elders, who have a strong presence at the village level, would help map communities at risk and advise residents on measures to take in areas prone to flooding and landslides.
"Another key people that we are engaging this time round are the village elders," Barasa said.
She said Kenya has more than 77,000 village elders who have significant influence at the community level.
Barasa said the ministry had prepared booklets to equip the elders with information on environmental restoration, clean-up campaigns, pollution prevention and disaster preparedness.
She said the materials would help elders identify communities living along riverine areas that should move to higher ground, as well as those living in landslide-prone areas who should relocate.
"But also in preparation of El Niño, as a ministry, we have taken it up to ensure that we have these important documents, so that they are able to map out and they are able to tell the community that are living along the riverine area to move up, and those in areas that are prone to landslide, then they should move from those areas," she said.
Barasa said the initiative was part of wider efforts to strengthen community preparedness for disasters, including drought and flooding.
Barasa was speaking ahead of Mazingira Day, when she called on Kenyans to participate in activities aimed at restoring the environment and protecting ecosystems.
She said the government was moving away from focusing solely on the number of trees planted to measuring whether the trees grow and survive.
"Our input is planting trees. But let us remember that our outcome is really survival," Barasa said.
She said the ultimate goal of the government's restoration efforts was to restore ecosystems and improve the quality of life for Kenyans.
Barasa said the government was implementing a National Landscape Ecosystem Restoration Strategy that covers different ecosystems rather than focusing on individual areas.
She said restoring water towers alone would not be sufficient if riverine areas were neglected, just as restoring the coastal region without addressing drylands would leave other ecosystems vulnerable.
"We're looking at multiple interventions to restore the various ecosystems that we have in Kenya," she said.
The CS also called on community forest associations to support restoration efforts because of their knowledge of local ecosystems and terrain.
She said the associations could help engage communities and explain the importance of restoring degraded areas.
Barasa said farmers were also being encouraged to adopt agroforestry alongside crop production to prevent soil erosion, improve food security and create economic opportunities.
She linked the government's restoration efforts to measures under the Carbon Markets Regulations and climate resilience initiatives.
Barasa said the focus was ultimately on protecting the environment while improving the quality of life of communities.
As part of the Mazingira Day activities, she urged Kenyans to take part in environmental restoration, clean-up campaigns and efforts to prevent pollution of water sources and wetlands.
