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INTRODUCTION
The Nairobi River Basin (NRB) of Kenya comprises of 3 three rivers: Ngong-Motoine, Nairobi and Mathare as shown in Figure 1. The rivers join east of Nairobi County, meet River Athi, and eventually flow to the Indian Ocean (Krhoda 2002). It covers an area of 700 km2 has an altitude ranging between 1,500 and 1,800 m. The basin hosts a population of about 4 million with projections showing an increase to 5 million by the year 2025. The basin is hosts the Nairobi dam constructed along Ngong river in 1978 to control flooding downstream the catchment.
Caption: Figure 1: Nairobi River Basin (KDI 2012).
This situational analysis seeks to assess issues affecting institutions and people in NRB from a local, state, regional and global context and analyse the trends, conditions and state of the ecosystem. It will begin with an assessment of the area's natural resources followed by a socio-economic analysis and finally identification of the basin issues resulting to conflicts of interests and are related to EFs.
Natural resources of NRB
Forests
NRB is endowed with riverine forests that are found in its headwaters and its environments. Forests occupy 37 km2, which is about 5.7% of the total area. Dagoretti, Ololua and Ngong forests that fall near the Kikuyu escarpments are such forests and comprise of dense deciduous trees such as Croton, Grevillea and Eucalyptus among others (University of Nairobi n.p). The forests are suitable habitats for birds, mammals and a refuge to wildlife and humans downstream. Ngong forest is the source of Ngong River and helps in fortifying its banks. The Kikuyu forest, which is the source of Nairobi and Mathare rivers is the other riverine forest in the basin. It is densely populated with natural trees and is home to many animals such as baboons, birds and monkeys (KDI 2012).
The forests are under threat due to logging and encroaching agriculture resulting from increasing population density in the basin. Illegal poaching, forest fragmentation, excessive and illegal timber extraction and agro forestry to develop softwood plantations are additional threats to the forests (KDI 2012). Laxity from forest regulating agencies, poor enforcement of existent laws and poor community policing of forests also pose as threats to the forests' sustainability.
Water and wetlands
The...