Petal problem

Earth Island Journal, Autumn, 2009

Dozens of flower farms surrounding Kenya's Lake Naivasha are pulling so much water out of the lake that they threaten to wreck the local ecosystem. In an effort to preserve the area, Kenyan environmentalists are calling for a boycott on Naivasha flowers.

Flower cultivation is big business in Kenya. The $250 million industry--which exports blooms mostly to Europe--employs about 70,000 people and is the second largest foreign currency earner after tea. But the large-scale flower fields have a lane ecological footprint. Biologists say that the 30 farms surrounding Lake Naivasha are contributing to a decline in water levels.

The Indigenous Biodiversity Environmental Conservation Association, a Kenyan green group, has launched a "Save Lake Naivasha" campaign to stop the unregulated water extraction. "We are ready to travel even to the Holland market and various supermarkets in the United Kingdom to have our case heard, as these flower farms are killing Lake Naivasha," says James Kahora, executive director of the group.

Located about 60 miles northwest of Nairobi, Naivasha is considered a biodiversity hot spot. It is home to about 400 bird species including the famous flocks of pink flamingos as well as hippos. Bird lovers consider it one of the top bird-watching locations in the world, and environmentalists say that any lake degradation could impact another important sector of the Kenyan economy tourism.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Maasai herders also complain that the flower farms have closed local animal corridors, making it hard for them to water their livestock. "The farmers found the Maasai here and we shall not stand back and watch as the only natural resource we know is killed by profit-oriented investors," says Andrew Ole Korinko, a local Maasai leader.

--AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, 6/23