ON THE southern shore of Lake Naivasha, Kenya’s lush Rift Valley holds an unexpected scent of English summer. For inside vast plastic greenhouses grow mile upon mile of roses. Exported to Europe, they account for a fifth of the commercial roses sold there and provide a tenth of Kenya’s foreign exchange. But the business is a victim of its own success.
Attracted by a scent more pungent than flowers, a quarter of a million Kenyans followed the rose growers into the valley, hoping to make money. To feed themselves, they ploughed the surrounding hills, felling the trees that filter and constrain the streams that flow into the lake; it is now polluted by silt and run-off.
See full Article.
Monday, June 25, 2012
Shoots, greens and leaves
ON THE southern shore of Lake Naivasha, Kenya’s lush Rift Valley holds an unexpected scent of English summer. For inside vast plastic greenhouses grow mile upon mile of roses. Exported to Europe, they account for a fifth of the commercial roses sold there and provide a tenth of Kenya’s foreign exchange. But the business is a victim of its own success.
Attracted by a scent more pungent than flowers, a quarter of a million Kenyans followed the rose growers into the valley, hoping to make money. To feed themselves, they ploughed the surrounding hills, felling the trees that filter and constrain the streams that flow into the lake; it is now polluted by silt and run-off.
See full Article.
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