June marks two crucial commemorations— World Liquefied Petroleum Day (LPG) with this year’s theme being ‘LPG Works Around the Clock’, and World Environment Day, which focused on ending plastic pollution.
The pace at which Kenya effectively dealt with the threat of plastic pollution in 2017 by banning the manufacture, importation and use of single-use plastic carriers must be applauded as the effort has improved the plastic waste management effort.
The plastic waste menace had not only choked the rivers and caused death to livestock and wildlife, but also caused havoc on the asset that Kenya is most endowed with—biodiversity.
The 2024 Economic Survey indicates, as is perennially the case, that real gross domestic product (GDP) was anchored on specific growth in the agriculture, forestry and fishing sectors of the economy. Notably the tourism sector recorded a 14 percent growth in international tourists’ arrivals.
The natural environment is the primary enabler of income. As such, it remains the driver of economic growth, hence the urgency in protecting it all year round.
Protecting the natural environment is central to Kenya’s development and the rest of sub-Saharan Africa, yet we seem to be trading off this irreplaceable asset with alien definitions of development at an alarming rate. This is evident from the recent publicly available information regarding the destruction of part of Ngong Forest biodiversity to make way for the built environment.
The unique attraction of visitors to Kenya is our natural environment and the variety of species of animals, birds, snakes, insects etc and not the architecture that is the attraction for jurisdictions outside of Africa.
To sustainably increase the forest cover, protection of existing trees is paramount. With innovative architectural designs, there should be no excuse to cut down trees to make way for roads, walking paths and tented camps. We must jealously guard our green spaces, including hills which also provide adventure and areas for recreational activities including hiking, sky running, rock climbing and cycling.
Sustainable food production systems, including fisheries, are born out of biodiversity whose destruction disrupts crucial ecosystems. This has the potential of threatening food security and nutrition, compromising the population’s health.
The oil and gas industry players have intentionally and progressively participated in the protection and expansion of forest coverage, recognising as a minimum, the combustion emission trade-off that forests provide as Africa transits to clean fuels.
Additionally, these industry players offer a unique transition fuel-LPG-which is first off, a health product. Displacing charcoal and firewood with LPG eliminates respiratory illnesses which are the highest burden of disease for Kenya at 30.2 percent.
Secondly, the availability of and access to LPG allows for the protection of forests and sustainable afforestation.
Human activities like deforestation and habitat fragmentation adversely impact essential ecosystem services such as pollination by bees and birds, soil fertility, water purification and climate thereby directly influencing food production, and the diversity of plant and animal species—the bedrock of development.
Forests, a key ecosystem for agriculture and wildlife, are natural carbon sinks, absorbing carbon dioxide and regulating global temperatures.
The unsustainable displacement of these ecosystems in the name of development (read built environment) is nothing more than destruction as this accelerates climate change, leading to increased heatwaves, floods, and other climate-related health risks, including malnutrition, and the spread of vector-borne diseases like malaria and dengue.
The writer is General Manager of the Petroleum Institute of East Africa (PIEA)
