This is how to retain Kenya’s pristine land for sustainable tourism revenues

Kenya is a bountiful nation where infrastructure projects are continuously taking place within urban centres leading to highrise buildings and sprawling highways.

The outskirts of the urban concrete jungles are contrasted by vast grasslands interspersed with herds of wildlife, mountains, beaches and agrarian lands which continue to thrive.

The beauty of nature and equatorial climate has ensured that Kenya retains its identity as a vibrant tourist destination. With the kind and generous nature of citizens, local hospitality has always been a uniquely fulfilling experience for tourists.

The sector has been the backbone of the Kenyan economy. Covid-19 led to the near decimation of the tourism industry. Now that international travel is slowly reviving, has Kenya taken all measures to ensure retention of its unique allure for visitors?

Besides safaris and holidays alongside the coastline, how else has the country positioned itself to attract tourists? Nairobi is seen as the hub of regional conferences with excellent conferencing and hotel facilities.

Beautiful locations

These have taken a hit due to the Covid-19. Is Rwanda soon going to pull all the major regional conferences to Kigali? Kenya is among the few countries in Africa to introduce Astro-tourism through The Travelling Telescope whereby individuals can spend a night in beautiful locations across the country from Nairobi to Turkana, under the skies watching the stars through telescopes.

Actively implementing environmental conservation can position Kenya as an eco-tourism destination, thereby attracting further revenues.

With the economic projects under the Big 4 Agenda underway, urban dwellers are witnesses to the speed at which various infrastructure projects are progressing, the most visible ones being Nairobi Expressway and the standard gauge railway.

As a result of the infrastructure projects to assist in ease of transportation, these, together with other developments are taking a toll on the nature and green spaces within urban cities of Kenya. What are we doing to conserve the environment and make it a key attraction for tourism and investments?

Due to the development of commercial projects globally, the world lost 502,000 square miles (1.3 million square kilometres) of forest between 1990 and 2016 according to the World Bank. These figures have since escalated and continue to grow.

Food security

The world is facing a planetary emergency through climate change with far-reaching consequences on communities, food security, infrastructure, and ecosystems. While global economies are in constant pursuit of urban development and money, one unique country changed its direction. Bhutan, a South Asian country bounded by India and China realised the value of happiness.

Though the country is small, its commitment to conservation is greater than most. Bhutan has continually been ranked as the happiest country in Asia. It is known as one of the stable ecosystems in the world and has almost no environmental harm due to its long isolation.

They benchmark their process of development through Gross National Happiness (GNH) instead of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). This GNH concept guides their development strategy. One of the four pillars of Bhutan’s GNH philosophy is the conservation of the environment.

As mandated in their constitution, Bhutan maintains sanctuaries and preserves 60 per cent of its land under forest cover acting as a natural carbon sink. Therefore they have become a carbon-negative country by absorbing more than 6,000,000 tonnes of carbon per year. The unspoiled nature contributes towards making Bhutan one of the world leaders in eco-tourism.

The small Himalayan country created its own method of measuring the worth of gross national happiness by focusing on good governance, economic development aligned with environmental conservation and culture.

What works in favour of Bhutan is the income from tourism due to the landscape and biodiversity, pristine nature, security, cuisine, culture, and society, together with optimum use of farmlands and food security for the nation. Bhutan has established itself as the first country in the world with 100 per cent organic farming. Can Kenya borrow a leaf from their book?

Preventing deforestation

Preventing deforestation and preserving biodiversity has contributed greatly to the economies of countries including Singapore, Rwanda, Switzerland, New Zealand, and many other havens. Rwanda has placed the environment at the epicentre of its development plans for the past two decades. Facing the impacts of global warming, the country is embracing green growth to power its socio-economic transformation. The green growth strategy is about aligning principles of climate change to plans of economic development.

These include energy efficiency, low gas emission, recycling, maintaining green spaces, and green growth. They have a goal of becoming a climate-resilient economy by the year 2050. Kigali has spotless clean streets, crime is low and the economy is growing.

Business tourism has grown together with recreational tourism. Kigali is emulating the model of economic growth of Singapore and Seoul complete with a citywide obsession with keeping the streets clean and maintenance of green spaces. Today, Singapore is referred to as a City in a Garden and is one of the greenest cities in the world.

Countries around the world that have prioritised environmental conservation and seamlessly harmonised eco-habitat ideologies with modernisation are thriving economies. Kenya with its bountiful nature was destined to be a utopia. With all the environmental degradation taking place under the disguise of development, one can only hope that we work towards making Kenya the Utopia it ought to be.

Ritesh Barot is a business and financial analyst, humanitarian, conservationist, occasional artist, recipient of OGW honor. [email protected]