The Nairobi National Park is an iconic nature and wildlife sanctuary adjacent to Nairobi city in Kenya. It affords Kenya global bragging rights as the only country with a national park within a major city.
However, the park has recently hogged media headlines and acrimonious debate about it's status after high ranking officials' proposal to have it abolished for the city to have room for expansion.
While the debate ranges on, it is worth noting that Nairobi is host to the global headquarters of United Nations Environment Programme and other key United Nations agencies.
The park is also a popular tourist hot spot and very complimentary to conference tourism. Even transiting passengers chose to visit the park before connecting to their next flights.
The proponents of the park abolishment need a serious re-think of such a scheme as it has serious implications on the status of Kenya as a model nation for environmental conservation continentally and globally.
We need to collectively support environmental conservation and ecosystem restoration initiatives for sustainable livelihoods and for biodiversity to thrive.
JohnMak