Biodiversity
The government has been urged to urgently review and strengthen policies that protect the nation’s rich bio-cultural diversity from exploitation by unscrupulous forces.
The African Biodiversity Network and its stakeholders in Kenya including the Biodiversity and Biosafety Association of Kenya (BIBA Kenya) said the country is witnessing widespread destruction of its bio-cultural resources and rich biodiversity and thus it is imperative for the government to develop and implement policies that ensure their conservation and equitable benefit sharing in case of regulated usage.
Speaking during a two-day media engagement forum on Bio Cultural Diversity in Kenya, the National Coordinator for BIBA Kenya Anne Maina said there is a need for farmer managed seeds to be diversified and to be promoted.
“There are a bit of challenges with seed laws in the country where the farmers’ seeds are recognized and approved even for sharing but are not allowed to sell,” she added. Maina however said that they have been speaking and engaging with different policy departments and there were steps that were being taken with review of the access and benefit sharing regulations in the country.
“A proper review of the Seed and Plant Varieties Act which prohibits farmers from selling their seeds will see farmers being able to share indigenous seeds but this can only be done through easing restrictions hindering the circulation of the farmer varieties that are nutritious,” she added.
She explained that BIBA Kenya has been working and partnering with the National Museum of Kenya and Inter sectorial forum on agro biodiversity and ago ecology on promoting farmer managed seed systems /indigenous seeds through an annual cultural and seed festivals and harvest fair.
Dr. Fassil Gebeyehu, and General Coordinator of the African Biodiversity Network, emphasized on the need to also demystify the concept of bio-cultural diversity, stressing the importance of protecting genetic, species, ecosystem, and cultural diversities.
Some of the traditional seeds being displayed at a food harvest at the National Museum
“Protecting elements of cultural diversity, such as language, traditions, and indigenous knowledge, is crucial for a country like Kenya. With a rising youthful and urbanized population, many are becoming disconnected from their ancestral lands and cultural heritage,” Gebeyehu noted.
He warned of the cultural threats posed by urbanization, saying, “Many young people no longer identify with the foods and traditions of their grandparents. Losing these cultural elements threaten our cultural values and environmental stewardship.”
Gebeyehu called on for the nurturing of the new generation by the elderly who could educate the youth on the importance of conserving biological and cultural diversity saying this intergenerational transfer of knowledge was essential to mitigate the loss of these heritage to urbanization.
Simon Mitambo from the Society for Alternative Learning and Transformation (SALT) said that they have been working with the communities to bring back some of the values of yester years.
He gave an example of a community like the Kikuyu who relate with Mount Kenya seeing it as a sacred place, noting that one of the ways of engaging the community was preservation of the sacred natural sites which have a lot of cultural, ecological and spiritual values to communities that live near those places.
Mitambo talked on an unprecedented loss of biodiversity, with various reports showing that millions of plants and animals were being threatened by extinction.
“Our seeds for example are part of biodiversity and when we revive or conserve seeds we find we have different crops in the farms that give us nutrition value and even when there is bad weather, we have a diversity of growing crops with different crops with some probably dying but others surviving,” he added.
Diversification, Mitambo explained, means planting traditional food together such as the sorghum, millet and even green grams as a way of managing risk so that if one crop failed due to maybe rain, one does not miss on the other crops unlike when one plants a whole area with say maize and if that crops is affected by either pest or disease, one loses an entire harvest.
He lauded the National Museums of Kenya who have been trying to tap different communities and different knowledge through collection, preservation, studying, documenting and presenting Kenya’s past and present cultural and natural heritage.
Gathuru Mburu – Team Leader Ngaatho Community highlighted the alarming rate of theft, destruction, over-exploitation, and desecration of sacred sites, and natural forests such as the Kayas, the Mau Forests, Mt Kenya, Kakamega and Elgon ecosystems.
He emphasized the need for legal support and protection for communities, many of whom were unaware of the value of their resources.
“While some communities are knowledgeable and vocal about defending their resources, however, the majority are not and require legal support and protection. Every Kenyan should be aware of and knowledgeable about the natural resources within their locality. These resources have the potential to transform local economies and sustain our cultural identity,” Mburu added.
Uncontrolled harvesting of plant and animal species have been threatening Kenya’s biodiversity and although biodiversity within the protected areas remains high, incidences of illegal extraction are common.
Globally Kenya is classified among the ten mega-bio diverse nations, with over 35,000 species of flora and fauna. The country has a unique diversity of ecosystems, ranging from mountains, forests, rangelands, arid lands, croplands, and urban areas to marine and inland waters.