News

16 February 2009

An update from Serah Munguti, Nature Kenya ...

Court case

On 11th July 2008 the High Court (in Malindi) issued an injunction against the Tana Integrated Sugar Project. 

To download a copy of the Malindi High Court orders, please click on the links below:

Tana court orders, page 1 (application/pdf, 548.7 kB, info)
Tana court orders, page 2 (application/pdf, 555.5 kB, info)
Tana court orders, page 3 (application/pdf, 646.2 kB, info)

A High Court case hearing for the Delta is scheduled for 19th Feb 2009 in Malindi

Advocacy

  • Key meetings have been convened by Kenya Wildlife Service (7th January 09) and the Kenya Wetlands Forum (8th January) on the threats to the Delta, old (sugar) and emerging (Qatar)
  • The Kenya Wetlands Forum (KWF) held a meeting with Galole MP with a request to raise the sugar and Qatar proposals in parliament.
  • Hydrological study – discussions underway. The study will inform stakeholders and support the Ramsar listing process
  • Nature Kenya has engaged two staff to be based in the Tana Delta. The staff will serve as technical persons on the ground and rally community support for the management planning process for the Delta
  • The KWF has conducted extensive advocacy and awareness campaigns in January and February 2009 reaching many parts of the Delta

Publicity

Tana film

A draft of the Tana film is out, and it is great. Dr. Adrian Seymour is now doing the final editing. Over the next few days, the Nature Kenya officers on the ground will show the (draft) film in the delta, to raise local people’s awareness just before the court case on 19th February 2009. The film is kindly funded by the RSPB, the Darwin Initiative, biodiversity films project (coordinated by Dr. David Harper), Schweizer Vogelschutz SVS/BirdLife Schweiz (Swiss BirdLife partner), DOF (BirdLife in Denmark).IUCN and the EU.

12th January 2009

  • The Daily Nation Rich Countries launch great land grab to ensure food supply for their citizens

3rd January 2009

  • The Saturday Nation, With such projects, Africa will remain a rich continent with a beggar’s bowl – an article by Prof. Wangari Maathai, Nobel Laureate
  • The Daily Nation, Tana Delta Row: Residents’ rights must be respected – an article by Hadley Becha, Deputy Director of the East African Wildlife Society

29th December 2008

  • The Standard, Mungatana opposes land deal with Qatar

In December 2008 and January 2009 there was a lot of publicity on the Tana River Delta, especially plans by Qatar to ‘grow vegetables and fruits’ in some 40,000 ha (the area varies in different media, from 16,200 ha to 100,000 ha). In return, Qatar will allegedly construct a port in Lamu town. The only source of information on this proposal has been the media, with the stories originating from the Presidential Press unit. To date there has been no formal statement(s) on the issue

The July-Sept 2008 issue of the Swara Magazine (a publication of the East African Wildlife society) carried several articles on the Tana Delta and the proposed sugar project: Tana Delta…the story behind the story - by Jill Retief; Saccharify? Not worth the sacrifice! – by Hadley Becha and A stay of execution by Wachira Kang’aru

Financial support

The campaign to save the Tana River Delta is kindly supported by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (BirdLife in UK), Schweizer Vogelschutz SVS/BirdLife Schweiz (Swiss BirdLife partner) and DOF (BirdLife in Denmark).

Thank you for your support

The media has maintained an interest in the Tana Delta sugar project.  To view recent publicity please click here.

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