POLITICS AND THE ENVIRONMENTby Yvonne Wabai | 14-08-2017 02:03 |
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Firstly, I would like to apologize for posting this report past the deadline. We're currently having a tumultuous time here in Kenya due to the last week's elections. It's not a good situation but we hope it gets better. In view of the recent elections, I would like to focus in the role that politics has on the environment. While personal determination does a lot to help save the environment from human destruction, more needs to be done, and this is where politics come in. It is through political channels that legislation to protect the environment is made. With the numerous environmental problems that we as Kenyans have had to face, and still are facing, in the recent past, many environmentalists had hoped that the politicians would some focus on environmentalism. However, truthfully speaking, that was not the case. It was clear that environment focus was in the bottom of their list of priorities. The major challenge right now is to therefore get our politicians to make environmentalism one of their top-most priorities. It should, as a matter of fact, be the top-most priority because, as I have previously mentioned, the effects of global warming and climate change will hit developing countries the most, and Kenya is a developing country. Some of the effects we are already experiencing and these are extensive floods and extreme droughts which lead to water crises, food crises, and negative economic development. Many of our politicians claim that they will lead us to an economic paradise but that is virtually impossible unless they put environmentalism as a top priority. We need environmental laws, policies and litigation to deal with bad environmental practices, especially by businesses and corporations as well as government organs. Even though Kenya has its fair share of environmental activists, it's quite clear that we won't make significant progress until our politicians join hands with us.
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