Uasin Gishu County government will no longer approve any development or any commercial activities on wetlands.
According to area Governor Jackson Mandago developments on wetlands or riparian reserves within Uasin Gishu County were outlawed and instead owners would be encouraged to plant trees as one way of conserving the environment.
Addressing the press after launching the Eldoret city marathon scheduled for April 22, 2018, Mandago said the County would be proactive in environmental conservation efforts and lauded the government for suspending logging in all government and community forests for the next three months.
“We laud the government for the decision to suspend logging, but it should do so even for one year to give the country adequate time to do a thorough assessment of the effects of logging on the country’s rivers and water sources,” said Mandago.
He further declared that his government would continue to push the Ministry of Environment to gazette Kaptagat forest as a water tower saying the forest was a major water source for the residents of Uasin Gishu and neighboring counties.
“As a County, we are ready to pump in resources to reforest Kaptagat once it is gazetted as a water tower we are even ready to petition Parliament if the Ministry fails to do so,” stressed Mandago.
The theme for the Eldoret city marathon, the first to be fully sponsored by a County government, is ‘climate action’.
Winners of the marathon will pocket Sh3m in the women and men categories while runners-up would take home Sh1.5m.
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