Embobut[1] (Embobit, Embotut) is one of the administrative wards for the Marakwet East Constituency in Elgeyo-Marakwet County, Kenya.[2]: 4–6 The area contains one of two major drainage basins for Elgeyo-Marakwet County, referred to locally as a "water towers". The other water tower in Elgeyo-Marakwet County is Cherangani Hills.[3] Embobut supplies Eldoret town and its environs with water.[2]: 4–6 Collectively the Embobut and Cherangani Hills water towers also supply water to the Kerio River, which flows through the Cheploch Gorge in Baringo to Lake Turkana via the Turkwel Gorge.[4]: 12
The Embobut Forest is one of the largest continuous blocks of indigenous forest remaining in East Africa.[2]: 11 As of 6 November 1954, it was gazetted and registered as a protected public forest, by Proclamation Order 26.[5]: 32–33 Soil erosion and landslides are ongoing concerns, as is the protection of the water supply and biodiversity, impacts on climate, and local livelihoods.[2]: 11
The water towers store rainwater, enable regular river flows, recharge ground-water storage, improve soil fertility, reduce erosion and sediment in river water, and host a diverse species of plants and animals.
— Delegation of the European Union to Kenya, 2018[6]
- ^ Embobut Sub-Location (Approved) at GEOnet Names Server, United States National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency
- ^ a b c d DAYS IN THE COLD: KHRC's Report into the Embobut Forest Evictions. Nairobi, Kenya: Kenya Human Rights Commission. 2014.
- ^ Elgeyo Marakwet County. Kenya: Ministry of Devolution and Planning Government Printer. 2013. p. 19.
- ^ The Inspection Panel (22 May 2014). Report No. 88065- KE Kenya Natural Resource Management Project Investigation Report May, 22 2014 (PDF). World Bank Documents - World Bank Group.
- ^ Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (April 2018). An interim report of the high-level independent fact-finding mission to Embobut Forest in Elgeyo Marakwet County (PDF). Nairobi: Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR). Retrieved 10 May 2020.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
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