NEMA Revokes the Environmental Impact Assessment license for KiliAvo Farm
NAIROBI, April 27, 2021 – The National Environment and Management Authority (NEMA) has today revoked the Environmental Impact Assessment license for KiliAvo Farm Fresh Ltd following yesterday’s ruling by the National Environment Tribunal (NET) to throw out the petition to halt NEMA from stopping the farm.
Efforts by the Kenyan agricultural company KiliAvo Fresh Ltd to overturn NEMA’s Stop Order were thwarted by the NET on April 26, 2021. In their statement, NEMA referenced to the Stop Orders issued to KiliAvo Farm on 9thand 18thSeptember, 2020 to cease all activities on the land that is deemed to be in the middle of a corridor in Amboseli that is essential for the dispersal and migration of one of the world’s most important elephant populations as well as zebra, wilderbeest, gazelles, lions, leopard, hyena and cheetah.
NEMA’s revocation of KiliAvo’s EIA licence is a significant development in the controversial case, and has been welcomed by community members, conservationists and landowners who are alarmed at the explosion of unregulated developments that threaten to block Kenya’s vital wildlife corridors and dispersal areas putting most of the country’s famous wildlife at risk. The steps take by the Tribunal and NEMA also sets precedence to anyone who might want to bring development into protected areas and critical wildlife migratory paths. On hearing the ruling, WildlifeDirect Director, Dr. Kamau Gachigi, lauded NEMA’s Director General-Mamo B. Mamo saying, “ Mr. Mamo B. Mamo is a no nonsense civil servant. This is a historic moment for Kenya”. Dr. Paula Kahumbu, WildlifeDirect CEO also added, “This is an important win for wildlife and Kenya. The destruction of wildife buffer zones, dispersal areas and corridors has reached a tipping point and urgent enforcement is needed to mitigate these impacts.”
Despite both directives from the Tribunal and NEMA, photographs and videos from the site early today reveal that the company has continued with clearing land and ploughing. NEMA’s decision anchors on section 143 of EMCA, 1999 which provides that: “ANY PERSON who fails, neglects or refuses to comply with a Environmental Restoration Order made under this Act, COMMITS AN OFFENCE and shall on conviction be liable to imprisonment for a term of not less than one year and not more than four years or to a fine of not less than two million shillings and not more than four million shillings or to both such fine and imprisonment”.
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Notes for editors:
For more information or interviews please contact Trish Sewe at psewe@wildlifedirect.org. Aerial images, videos and maps of the farm and its location, and the surrounding livestock and grazing area, are available on request.
About WildlifeDirect:
WildlifeDirect is a Kenyan based conservation organization that has transformed anti-poaching results in Kenya through the award-winning conservation campaign “Hands Off Our Elephants”. WildlifeDirect is at the forefront of the war against wildlife crime and supports justice for wildlife and animals through advocacy and Eyes in the Courtroom. The organization’s mission is to connect people to their wildlife and nature and inspire them to treasure it and act to conserve it. WildlifeDirect also produces the Wildlife Warriors TV series, and enlists young people across the nation in conservation through an educational programme called Wildlife Warriors Kids program.
