Nature Is Not Empty Land! Portrait of Residents Protesting Forest to Become Parking Lot

A demonstration took place in Kenya on Monday as residents and activists opposed a plan to develop part of Nairobi National Park into a parking lot. Kenyan police fired tear gas and arrested nine people during the protest. Around 250 people gathered outside the main gate of the national park carrying posters reading ‘Nature is not an empty land’. They then marched along the road near the site before being dispersed by anti-riot police. One of the demonstrators detained was former Kenyan Chief Justice David Maraga. The protesters assessed that the government’s planned project threatens to reduce the area of one of the country’s most famous conservation areas. The demonstrators claimed that turning part of the national park into a parking area could disturb the protected zone. They also criticised the public consultation process, which they considered inadequate, and the environmental impact assessment, which they deemed lacking in transparency. ‘We are only here to try and voice our opinion. This is a national park, not a national parking lot,’ said one protester, Njeri Mwangi. Meanwhile, the Kenya Wildlife Service stated that the parking project is part of an expansion of the ‘Nairobi Animal Orphanage’. It has complied with the prevailing environmental regulations and aims to improve animal welfare and visitor education.