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The Forest That Mr. Katunga Planted and the UN Copenhagen Conference of Climate Change
In the colonial time in Kenya, there used to be a government officer who was in charge of fighting desertification and its effects. I know this because our home stands a few kilometers from the home-cum-office where the man, even today fondly referred to by the Akamba, as the “Musungu wa Mang’alata” (literally, the “Whiteman of Deserts”), used to live.
The Whiteman, who real name I don’t know, became a legend in his own time due to his commitment to fight desertification. Up on the high hills of Iveti overlooking Machakos Town and lying 60 kilometres east of Nairobi, is a good monument to his work—a huge forest that has for years been the source of rivers running down past the town to the plains and thence to Athi and Tana Rivers to empty themselves in the Great Indian Ocean.
Fittingly, the large forest which today teems with not only water but wildlife is still called “Kwa Katunga” (roughly, Katunga’s Forest). Katunga, I presume was the corruption of the Whiteman’s name.
One thing is clear. If Katunga had lived long in Kenya, all the hundreds of naked hills in Ukambani and other parts of Kenya, would now be forested. And they would be good sources of water and other natural resources just as Kwa Katunga forest is.
And Mr. Katunga was not only fastidious in reforestation; he was fastidious in keeping records and studying trends.
Example of the Lumbwa Hills
The colonial government, having taken all the grazing fields of the Akamba and allocated them to White settlers under the so-called White Highlands ( areas reserved only for European settlement ), the Akamba and their cattle where herded into the upper grounds on the hills. Among these hills is one called Lumbwa. Here there was such overcrowding that Mr. Katunga took a special interest in it. He took the pictures of the rich forests before the heavy human settlement. Latter, he took pictures that showed the destruction of environment as human population increased. The latter pictures tired, denuded earth, cracked soil and gaping valleys.
Mr. Katunga went about educating the people about the need to plant trees. At length, the inhabitants of Lumbwa Hills begun to appreciate the importance of trees. Thousands of trees were planted. And Mr.Katunga, must have been a happy man to take pictures of forested Lumbwa Hills. Today, Lumbwa Hills are still forested.
Is there anything that the UN Conference on Climate Change can learn from Mr. Katunga’s experience?
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