Environmental conservationist concerned with washing of vehicles inside rivers
By Emanuel Tarus
Environmental conservationist and Wildlife conservation enthusiast Justus Nyamu has called on the government through the National Environment Management Authority NEMA, to take action against Kenyans who wash their vehicles inside rivers and other water bodies.
In a tour to Trans Nzoia County, Nyamu the Director of
Elephant Neighbours Centre and Founder of Ivory Belongs to Elephants campaign said washing of vehicles inside rivers is a criminal offence.
He said such incidents are on the rise across the country threatening aquatic ecosystems.
“I am getting concerned that Kenyans have started destroying the environment by washing their vehicles inside rivers. These acts are criminal in nature attracts punishment according to Penal Code” Nyamu said.
He urged Kenyans to exercise caution when washing their vehicles to ensure that animals leaving in water as well as people living down stream are not affected health wise.
“You know discharging dirt into water negatively affects the people living down stream as well as aquatic animals. People should therefore be cautious and respect other people’s and animal rights” he said.
The wildlife conservationist also expressed worries on how human beings are threatening the existence of elephants in National Parks and Reserves.
He revealed that cases of elephants poaching for ivory have reduced but incidents of poisoning and retaliations as a result of human-wildlife conflict are on an upward trajectory.
“As much as we appreciate the fact that incidents of elephants poaching have declined, we are worried by some inhuman acts where people poison elephants” he said.
He said if proper measures are not taken, elephants are at the verge of getting to extinction.
“In 1997, Kenya had 167,000 individual elephants, today we have only 35,000 individual elephants in fact some parks have actually nothing. In Mt. Elgon National Park, the population is not known. In the whole of Africa, there are 400,000 elephants, this is worrying” he revealed.
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