Garissa Governor Ali Korane has asked the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) to stop issuing licenses to individuals to cut down trees for fuelwood use by refugees.
Governor Korane said the Somali refugees in the Dadaab camp have destroyed the environment in North Eastern.
Mr. Korane said many trees around the camps have been cut down for food and fuel which has left the land bare.
Speaking in Abdisamit, Balambala sub-county, the governor asked UNHCR to find an alternative source of energy for the over 400,000 refugees at the Dadaab camps to reduce the massive environmental destruction.
He said the environment has been degraded over the years the refugee camp has been opened and it could take years to restore it.
“Yes they are refugees and we have accommodated them as brothers and sisters but that does not mean we allow them to destroy our environment by cutting trees for firewood and charcoal burning.”
“It’s high time we explore alternative means of energy that will not directly destroy the environment. The UNHCR must take responsibility for the massive environmental destruction in Dadaab. They must come up with tangible long term and short term measures to restore the environment in Dadaab,” he said.
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