Isiolo MCAs ask State to deploy rangers to protect forested areas

Concerned over increased human activities causing devastation to the environment, Isiolo MCAs have appealed to the Ministry of Environment, Natural Resources and Climate Change to deploy additional forest rangers to help tame the activities within forested areas in the county.

The MCAs said cases of charcoal burning, settlements, subsistence farming and illegal logging that have adverse effects on indigenous and exotic trees such as Acacia were on the rise due to the limited number of rangers guarding the forests.

The legislators said the indigenous and exotic tree species had significant importance in supporting soil cover and domesticated fauna through forage and grass including enhancement of microclimate changes in areas where the trees had been grown.

In a motion tabled at the County Assembly by Majority Leader Abdirashid Ali, they said the activities had brought about devastating effects on flora and fauna, compounding the threat of global warming.

Isiolo Majority Leader Abdirashid Ali. (Photo: Photo/Waweru Wairimu)

"The increasing human activities are a result of the limited number of guards deployed to the county," Abdirashid said.

The Assembly directed the County Tourism Executive to formally make an application to the Ministry for the deployment of the rangers. "They (rangers) will help safeguard the species that have been destroyed, thereby affecting the ecosystem".

Continued devastation on the environment, the MCAs said, would compound the situation in the county that suffers perennial drought, exposing local communities that are predominantly pastoralist to the triple threat of hunger, malnutrition and resource-based conflicts.