Malindi, 06 May, 2022 / 4:35 pm (ACI Africa).
The Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Malindi in Kenya has blamed protracted violence between the farming and cattle-rearing communities in the various regions served by his Episcopal See on effects of climate change and expressed optimism that a new taskforce on the environment will address hostilities in the coastal region.
At a Wednesday, May 4 media briefing with a section of religious leaders of Kenya’s coastal region, Bishop Willybard Kitogho Lagho said that the leaders had formed a committee that would in turn facilitate engagements with experts to implement useful environmental initiatives in the region.
“In our discussions today, we have formed a committee of three people who have been entrusted with the responsibility of engaging with experts. We’ll then have a meeting with the experts and come up with environmental initiatives that will hopefully be supported by all other religious leaders in this region, including Christians, Muslims and traditional African religions,” Bishop Lagho said.
The Kenyan Catholic Bishop added, “We have talked about water scarcity in this region. We acknowledge that the root cause of the violence that erupts between farmers and herdsmen in this region is global warming, decreased rainfall and sometimes, floods when it rains.”
“The key environmental issue that we have discussed most broadly is drought, which is affecting all of us, especially those of us in the counties of Kilifi, Tana River and Lamu. We have also spoken about the rampant logging for charcoal burning,” the Bishop of Malindi said.
