Land use in Kenya

Abstract

This book exposes the key land use and environmental problems facing Kenya today due to lack of an appropriate national land use policy. The publication details how the air is increasingly being polluted, the water systems are diminishing in quantity and deteriorating in quality. The desertification process threatens the land and its cover. The soils are being eroded leading to siltation of the ocean and lakes. The forests are being depleted with impunity thus destroying the water catchments. The savannas and grasslands are undergoing de-vegetation through overgrazing, charcoal burning and other poor land use practices leading to desertification. The book also reveals the underlying causes of the deterioration of the life support systems (air, water and land) through poor land use practices notably de-forestation, inappropriate irrigation techniques, overgrazing, fuel wood harvesting and charcoal burning. Others are pollution from industries, harmful agricultural practices and improper management of solid and liquid urban wastes. The ever-increasing population exerts pressure on the natural resources and drives the mis-use of the resources, the situation is exacerbated by the cyclic occurrence of disasters such as droughts and floods.