It is not always obvious, but forests offer greater value when they are kept intact instead of being chopped down for timber or converted to pastures, highways or mining pits.

The problem is that while timber has a clear price tag, the services that forests provide do not.

So what do forests give us and what is it worth? Consider the following services that forests provide and think about how much value you would attach to each.

The forest ecosystem helps to retain water and prevent soil erosion. Farmers struggle without forests, even if they are miles away.

By helping regulate rainfall and maintaining soil quality, forests give us productive agricultural lands.

They are also home to the birds that eat pests and the bees and other insects that pollinate our food crops.

And once the temperature and water regulating functions of forests are compromised, farmers are more likely to be exposed to droughts, floods, fires, and infertile soils.

The forest ecosystem gives us energy. In Kenya, hydroelectricity accounts for about 70 per cent of power generation.

Hydroelectric dams would not be able to function without the country’s vital water towers, the highland forested areas from where water flows to all but one of Kenya’s main rivers.

But these water towers need forests to provide these services.

Beyond regulating water, the forest ecosystem retains sediment that would otherwise flow into the hydroelectric plants and jam the systems. And then we have climate change. Forests are vital buffers against tragedy.

WATER TOWERS

We are already seeing the dramatic and devastating impact of severe drought in the north of Kenya, and we know this will only occur more regularly as the climate changes further.

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