Why destruction of trees will likely lead to fights over water resources

In an extreme show of commitment, resilience, purpose and focus, Truphena Muthoni recently hugged a tree for 72 straight hours.

It may seem mundane, even inconsequential, but this feat boggles the mind. In her place, I, and I believe many, would have had the itch to scratch or pass water within the first five minutes. Willfully going for three days without food, water, sleep, while standing up and exposed to the elements is phenomenal. 

Yet, even without interrogating her intentions and what drove her, a few querulous netizens detached from the reality of our precarious existence dismissed this feat as inane. To them, ‘climate change’, ‘global warming’ and ‘environmental conservation’ are mere slogans. Some came up with observations that were dumb but presented them as though they were the brightest ideas that have ever occurred to mankind this century. 

One of the wannabe bright Johnies dismissed Muthoni’s effort by haughtily pointing out that while she was wasting time hugging a tree chasing fame, kids in China were discovering and creating AI tools. Really? At best, this is the reasoning of village yokels to whom embellished fiction is reality. These folk also go around confidently spreading the false gospel that all Chinese merchandise is sub-standard. 

The wannabe Johnies are probably people who cannot find China on a map, leave alone having ever stepped foot there to regale us witness accounts of how smart Chinese kids are. While literacy levels in China have clocked a coveted 100 percent, technological literacy is at about 60 per cent. Kenya’s technological literacy is about 29 percent, which is impressive for a third world country. It is therefore spurious to credit Chinese kids with accomplishments they don’t have, and for which there is no empirical evidence just to spite someone else’s noble efforts. 

To expect everyone to be an IT guru and invent AI systems is ridiculous. What would the world look like without plumbers, electricians, mechanics, cleaners, house maids, architects, doctors and teachers, among others? 

We cannot all become specialists in a single discipline. We are created equal but different, and exist to complement each other in ways that make life fulfilling. Arguably, no two things on a human body are exactly the same size or perform a single function. Not eyes, not fingers, feet, ears, kidneys, lungs or hands. Yet human creation represents God’s perfection. 

Muthoni is driven by an unadulterated love for nature, which is ably represented by trees. That love is altruistic and should be lauded, not ridiculed by excitable hecklers. Trees are life, acting as reservoirs of oxygen and carbon sinks. They give us warmth, they give us furniture and paper products among other creature comforts, but above all, give us rain, and by extension, determine our food security or lack of it. 

More than 2 million people in Kenya’s arid and semi-arid areas will require emergency food assistance by January 2026 because of drought, a consequence of global warming. These climate changes caused by mankind have resulted in more than five years of drought in the Horn of Africa. In 2021, President Uhuru Kenyatta declared hunger in some parts of Kenya a national emergency to which Sh2 billion was allocated to mitigate the effects. 

Human-wildlife conflicts are on the rise and they are exacerbated by receding treelines. With them, our water sources are also drying up. If this continues, lions and buffalo, like dinosaurs, are at risk of becoming extinct. In Tsavo Park, for instance, these animals are being wantonly killed. 

Underlying all these is the harsh reality that mankind has, and continues to destroy trees to reclaim land. Soon, people will  have fights over water resources. The irony is that without trees, water and rain, land loses its core value. 

Besides individual and community fights over water, countries too, especially the landlocked, will in the near future go to war over water resources. Uganda President Yoweri Museveni gave a hint of this a month ago but in our usual dismissive fashion, signed it off as the rantings of a power-drunken old man.