<
https://news.mongabay.com/2024/10/in-kenya-a-river-restoration-initiative-pays-for-itself-and-then-some/>
"NAIROBI — The water supply for Nairobi’s five million people — and four
million others besides — depends on the Tana river, which flows for 1,000 km
from the Aberdare mountains to the Indian Ocean. The decades-long spread of
agriculture in the upper reaches of the Tana’s catchment area has stripped
hillsides of trees, prompting erosion that’s compromised both the farmland and
the quality of the water that Kenya’s capital depends on. Now rainstorms are
rapidly washing soil into the river, decreasing the farmland’s productivity and
clogging water and power generation infrastructure with silt.
The river runs roughly west to east for 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) from its
headwaters in the Aberdare Mountains, across the plains and hillsides of
Garissa county — where pastoralists have mastered livestock rearing in an arid
landscape shared with threatened gáránúug antelopes (
Litocranius walleri) and
endangered Rothschild’s giraffes (
Giraffa camelopardalis) — and through more
forested zones until it reaches the swamps and coastal habitats of a sprawling
delta at Ungwana Bay.
The problems caused by forest loss extend well beyond the Tana watershed. With
an unreliable water supply to their homes, many people in Nairobi, Kenya’s
capital and largest city, are forced to buy water in jerricans to drink, cook
and wash. Industrial and commercial users also have to make backup
arrangements. And as the city’s population continues to rise and climate change
causes increasingly unpredictable rainfall, ensuring water security will only
get harder.
“If our freshwater ecosystems are not healthy, they can’t provide that
foundation and for the water security that we need as people, for broader
nature, for plants and animals, the cities and our economies as well,” said
Naabia Ofosu-Amaah, a senior adviser on water and climate resilience issues at
U.S.-based NGO The Nature Conservancy."
Via
Fix the News:
https://fixthenews.com/276-nauseously-optimistic/
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
