admin | May 4, 2015
Enraged residents of a semi-pastoral community protested recently against the destruction of a forest which is increasingly the source of their livelihood.
The community relies on livestock. But the animals are severely affected by the increasingly common droughts. The farmers have no other option than to harvest honey and other products from the forest.
Mark Loloolki is the chairman of Lpartuk Ranch in Samburu County, 360 kilometres north of Kenya’s capital, Nairobi. He says: “People here are ready to take up spears and machetes to guard the forest. They have been provoked by outsiders who are out to [destroy it].”
The protesters threatened to set on fire any vehicle caught transporting timber suspected to be from their forests.
To read the full article, go to: http://www.ipsnews.net/2015/04/kenyan-pastoralists-protest-wanton-destruction-of-indigenous-forest/
Photo credit: Credit: Robert Kibet/IPS