There is great concern about an ongoing post-doctoral research project carried out by Luca Borghesio, a student from the University of Illinois at Chicago, which is clear cutting substantially large plots of indigenous trees in the Mathews Range. Mathews Range, also known as the Lenkiyio Hills, is a range of mountains about 150 km long, in the Laikipia District of the Rift Valley Province in northern Kenya, 50 km north of Isiolo Town.
“Approximately 234 mature indigenous trees have been cut down” says Helen Douglas-Dufresne of the Milgis Trust in her blog “Nine plots of 60-metre diameter have been cleared and 11 more have been marked for clearing”, she adds.
Utter dismay: Community members assessing the destruction
Douglas-Dufresne, other conservationists and the local community in the area worry that this “wanton destruction in the name of research” could have detrimental effects on the overall health of the forest and the environmental services it provides to the otherwise arid plains below the Mathews. They are also irked by the reported secrecy with which the research is being conducted.
Adding his concern, renowned Kenyan conservationist, and Chairman of WildlifeDirect, Dr Richard Leakey said, “I have learned of the research project that involves cutting of trees on a number of plots in the Mathews where we have one of the last remaining pristine forest in Kenya and I find it disturbing”. “I would urge that this project be suspended and that there be a full public discussion of what is being done and why and for whose benefit”, adds Dr Leakey.
The researcher, a tropical forest ecologist, explains – rather ambiguously – in an email to Douglas-Dufresne, that his research is neither covert nor wanton destruction but a study on how human activities, particularly those of the nomadic communities who live adjacent to, and utilize, the Mathews forests, can help conservation.
The big ones: Big trees cut down for research
Of his hypothesis that traditional nomadic activities can help conservation, he draws parallels with the community livestock grazing programme that begun at Lewa conservancy, acknowledging that carefully planned grazing can benefit both people and conservation . He portends that the same might be true in forest areas. How this is linked to chopping down mature indigenous trees does not come out convincingly in his explanation.
When asked about this notion, Dr Richard Leakey said “I find it very hard to believe that cutting so much wood can possibly be justified in the current time when deforestation and climate change are of such concern”. “Kenyan forests [which cover only 2% of the land against a recommended global standard of 12%] should not be destroyed without an extremely good reason and academic research could hardly justify what is happening in the Mathews Range”, he adds.
Ecosystem services: The Mathews is a source of water for the community
The researcher says that he cleared 10 plots of 12m diameter adding up to about 4,521 square meters – about an acre – in the 300km2 forest and therefore in his view it would have no significant effect on the entire ecosystem. The Milgis Trust however has produced pictures indicate that the areas are much larger than this. The ruffled local elders have indeed come to Douglas-Dufresne to seek advice on what to do about the felling of the large trees.
Some weeks back, the community had come into the study plots and evicted the researcher. Reportedly, the researcher paid KShs 100,000 (about US$ 1,300) to some local leaders and was smuggled back into his study area. He however denies this saying that what he paid is the normal government fees that any researcher is required to pay for permits to conduct research.
The Kenya Forest Service, the government body charged with the responsibility of looking after Kenya’s forests, has not been very cooperative and Douglas-Dufresne has not had much success trying to have them stop this project.
Dr Leakey, who sees this as another of those corrupt deals where the local community is being taken for a ride asks for a transparent process. He wonders who did the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for this project to go ahead and asks if the public know of its existence.
“I would encourage readers of this blog to get in touch with the University of Illinois and express concern so that we may put a stop to this destruction which the local community are equally opposed to”, he concludes.
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5 Comments
Could you please put up contact details for the relevant persons at the University of Illinois so that we can write to them. Which is the relevant department, and who is the PhD supervisor? Who else is directing the “research”?
Richard, thank you very much for your words on this Matthews forest saga..I hope this will wake up the people from the Kenya forest service, to come and show some interest in these very valuable forests in the north! They are willing to give a licence to cut trees,and take the cash and are always there to collect camping fees on Mt Nyiru, but they never seem to be around when there is a huge fire raging?, nor are they interested in finding out who started it, when you tell them!! two points in your blog.. the discrepancy over how big these gaps are in the Matthews, is not the issue here… Maybe the 2 Samburu people who went up to inspect don’t know what a meter is?!, or Luca is wrong…I have not been able to get to the site.. It is the fact he got a licence to cut indigenous trees, in a protected? forest and the pictures show every thing.. secondly it was Ksh 100,000/- possibly 120000/- paid/to be paid to the community not 150,000/- .. Just so the record is strait.. Other wise your support on this issue is invaluable…
Here is a link to the contact page of the University of Illinois at Chicago’s Department of Biological Sciences http://www.uic.edu/depts/bios/contact.shtml
I am saddened by this destruction of Mathews range forest reserve. For those who have visited this pristine forest, they know how its feels to see outsiders coming to destroy what the local Samburu have protected for so long. This is probably the least disturbed indigenous forest in Kenya and KFS should help protect it and not auction it to foreigners.
Mwenja
Dear Dr Leakey
I am Luca Borghesio, the researcher whose work in the Mathews range has received strong criticism on Wildlife Direct. After reading your posting on my project, I feel it necessary to write you to rectify some mistakes.
While I have no problem in admitting that my research is a rather unconventional approach to conservation, which many might not like, I still contend that it does not stem out of the blue. I have been doing research in Northern Kenya since 1992, I have been a Research Associate in the National Museums of Kenya for more than 10 years, and I have focused much of my work of the last ten years on the Afromontane forests of northern Kenya. I do have a knowledge of the ecology of these forests, and of the lifestyle of the nomadic tribes who live in the region. My idea that the mild habitat disturbance caused by local people has a role in the maintenance of forest biodiversity is a legitimate working hypothesis with much interest to conservation and high management value. Before condemning my research in such a strong way, people should learn more about it.
As for the details of my work, numerous inaccuracies have been published on Mrs Dufresne’s blog, and it is sad to see that these same inaccuracies were repeated in Wildlife Direct’s press release. My experiment consists of 20 circular plots, of which only 10 (not all the 20) have been cut to create experimental canopy gaps. The canopy gaps are 24m diameter – not 60m, therefore the area affected by my experiment is just 0.45 ha in a forest whose area exceeds 260 km2 – 60,000 times larger. In other words, the amount of wood that was cut in my experiment is less than 1% of the estimated sustainable yearly production on Mathews Range forest. With such a tiny impact, concerns about sustainability and impacts on water supply in the region have no realistic base. This was certified in writing by the Kenya National Environmental Management Authority (REF NEMA5/23/1).
Suggestions that my research would be just another “corrupt deal” lacking transparency are insults to my dignity and reputation. My research has been discussed for several months with the Kenya Forest Service since 2006, it was presented in a public lecture held at the National Museums of Kenya in July 2007, it has been approved by the Kenya Ministry of Research and by the Board of the Kenya Forest Service. My work is a full collaboration with the Department of Zoology of the National Museums, as well as with the Kenya Forest Department. My study site has been visited on several occasions by representatives of the National Museums and the KFS. A KFS technician was present on the site when I cut the forest gaps last August. This cannot be called lack of transparency.
KFS requires that all operations involving cutting of trees in gazetted forests must be compensated by the payment of a fee, which in my case was calculated as ksh 108,650. Last August, the local community raised complains because the fee that I paid to KFS had not been shared with them. My eviction from the forest was caused by my initial refusal to pay an equal amount to the community, because I felt that this claim had no legal base. Several meetings occurred in the following weeks, at the end of which I accepted to pay the amount required by the community (ksh 100,000). This amount was deposited on the community bank account , and will be used for educational purposes – mainly payment of school fees. Receipts are available for all these payments. I do not accept the interpretation that my return to my study site was a “smuggling” – by the way, I have been working in the Ngeng valley each year since 2005. I am not a newcomer there.
In the last weeks, Mrs Dufresne’s blog launched a media campaign against me. This campaign rests on a strong emotional appeal lying on largely fabricated accusations. It was easy to present me as dishonest, incompetent and reckless. But this is not me. I would be very happy to meet you if you have time to, so that I will be able to discuss with you the results of my previous research. These brought me to the experiment that I am now carrying out in the Mathews range.
I look forward to hearing from you soon,
Luca Borghesio
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[...] 26) There is great concern about an ongoing post-doctoral research project carried out by Luca Borghesio, a student from the University of Illinois at Chicago, which is clear cutting substantially large plots of indigenous trees in the Mathews Range. Mathews Range, also known as the Lenkiyio Hills, is a range of mountains about 150 km long, in the Laikipia District of the Rift Valley Province in northern Kenya, 50 km north of Isiolo Town. “Approximately 234 mature indigenous trees have been cut down” says Helen Douglas-Dufresne of the Milgis Trust in her blog “Nine plots of 60-metre diameter have been cleared and 11 more have been marked for clearing”, she adds. The researcher, a tropical forest ecologist, explains – rather ambiguously – in an email to Douglas-Dufresne, that his research is neither covert nor wanton destruction but a study on how human activities, particularly those of the nomadic communities who live adjacent to, and utilize, the Mathews forests, can help conservation. Of his hypothesis that traditional nomadic activities can help conservation, he draws parallels with the community livestock grazing programme that begun at Lewa conservancy, acknowledging that carefully planned grazing can benefit both people and conservation . He portends that the same might be true in forest areas. How this is linked to chopping down mature indigenous trees does not come out convincingly in his explanation. When asked about this notion, Dr Richard Leakey said “I find it very hard to believe that cutting so much wood can possibly be justified in the current time when deforestation and climate change are of such concern”. “Kenyan forests [which cover only 2% of the land against a recommended global standard of 12%] should not be destroyed without an extremely good reason and academic research could hardly justify what is happening in the Mathews Range”, he adds. The researcher says that he cleared 10 plots of 12m diameter adding up to about 4,521 square meters – about an acre – in the 300km2 forest and therefore in his view it would have no significant effect on the entire ecosystem. The Milgis Trust however has produced pictures indicate that the areas are much larger than this. The ruffled local elders have indeed come to Douglas-Dufresne to seek advice on what to do about the felling of the large trees. Some weeks back, the community had come into the study plots and evicted the researcher. Reportedly, the researcher paid KShs 150,000 (about US$ 1,900) to some local leaders and was smuggled back into his study area. He however denies this saying that what he paid is the normal government fees that any researcher is required to pay for permits to conduct research. The Kenya Forest Service, the government body charged with the responsibility of looking after Kenya’s forests, has not been very cooperative and Douglas-Dufresne has not had much success trying to have them stop this project. http://richardleakey.wildlifedirect.org/2008/12/06/dr-leakey-and-other-conservationists-condemn-dest... [...]