Oil and gas surveys put Arabuko-Sokoke Forest in the news

A Rocha Kenya is based on the coast, in Kilifi county, which is renowned for its unusually high diversity of habitats. At the end of October, it was discovered that CAMAC (a Texas-based energy company) was about to prospect for oil and gas in an area which includes Arabuko-Sokoke Forest, Dakatcha Woodlands, Watamu Marine National Park, Gede Ruins, Mida Creek and Sabaki River Mouth – all of them major conservation hotspots where A Rocha works. A Chinese company, hired to carry out the survey, began to bulldoze transects into the forest, where they planned to lay hundreds of explosive charges every 60 m, in order to send shockwaves up to 4 km underground.

A Rocha immediately responded, along with many partners, at a local, national and international level. Local communities complained that they had not been consulted, and though CAMAC claimed to have done an Environmental Impact Assessment, none of the stakeholders had seen it. The outrage was well covered by Jerome Starkey of The Times, who reported on 21 November, ‘Camac’s licence was based on an impact assessment written by the Nairobi-based company Earthview Consultants that referred to two endangered species — Grévy’s zebra and African wild dogs — that do not live in the survey area, known as L16. Large tracts of text appear to have been copied from the internet.’

We’re glad to report that on 21 November, CAMAC announced that, ‘we have decided to cancel seismic operations within the Arabuko-Sokoke Forest’.

Although we are relieved by CAMAC’s sensible decision, we are concerned about other local sites of high biodiversity and the impact on local farmers, who are seeing transects cut across their land. Please follow the story at facebook.com/ArabukoSokokeForest