The Problem
East Africa is a beautiful region with amazing landscapes and unique wildlife species. However, through human population increase and their activities, all this beauty is at the verge of extinction. From my personal experience, our top national threat at the moment is environmental degradation. With the growing urban centers and urban migrations, we are most likely to experience rampant pollution, worse than what is already in existence. One of the major reasons this is most likely to happen is the abandonment of indigenous cultures which have used biodegradable products for ages and thus preserving the environment. In today's East Africa, we are all embarking on industrial products which we have not learnt to re-sue, recycle and up-cycle. We cannot fight development and we cannot be against change for better living but there is a high importance to conserve our positive traditional practices that have taken good care of our environment for centuries. We can learn from the past, use our baskets in place of plastic bags, refresh our knowledge and pride in our traditional products. We need to remember the importance of every species, tree, herb and shrub for medicinal purposes and its role in balancing the ecosystem. In conclusion, we as East Africans need to regain our beauty, collect that piece of litter at our doorsteps, carry that trash bag while we travel, let that tree and shrub grow and finally, use them for our shopping baskets, repack our products in khaki bags and have our African identity in each of these aspects. That's my wish and its mine and yours for our environment.
