Mount Kenya, an island of pristine indigenous forest and wildlife surrounded by densely populated small farming areas, is the scene of a battle between man and nature.

This week's Earth Report delves deep into Mount Kenya's forest canopy and finds that poverty is the driving force behind the threat to this fragile ecosystem.

Logging: furniture and fire

Mount Kenya's 2000 square kilometres of indigenous forest makes an attractive resource for tree-loggers - both commercial and domestic. A recent aerial survey undertaken by the United Nations Environment Programme and the Kenya Wildlife Service demonstrated that the 1986 presidential ban on logging has had little effect. As a result, a new ban was placed in December 1999.

The logging of Camphor trees - a hardwood that takes hundreds of years to grow - is the main threat to maintaining forest cover. And as the demand for hardwood furniture grows, enforcing the ban on logging is an uphill, and often dangerous, battle for forest wardens.

Firewood collection for domestic use poses a different problem. Although a permit system for wood collection does exist, the permits do not state how much wood can be collected and they're easy to forge. This system and a lack of resources and manpower in the forest department, makes firewood collection difficult to monitor.

Over the last ten years, the forest has deteriorated drastically. Now
Kenya's forestry department is merging with the Kenya Wildlife Service in a bid to stop the loggers in their tracks.

Next Earth Report finds out how marijuana threatens forest cover.

Marijuana: cash for crops

Mount Kenya is pockmarked with marijuana plantations. In the forest aerial survey 143 plantations, called bhangi fields, were discovered. Back on the streets of Nairobi, marijuana sells and demand is increasing. As a result, more and more pockets of forest are being cleared to cultivate this lucrative crop. A crop that the growers are willing to defend with poisoned arrows - making patrolling for marijuana fields a risky business for forest wardens.

Poverty may be the driving force behind the use of, and demand for, marijuana on the streets of Nairobi, but it also plays a large part in the production of charcoal - another threat to the forest of Mount Kenya.

Charcoal: energy for the masses

For many people, charcoal is the only affordable fuel - gas and electricity is still too expensive. In Nairobi, charcoal is sold openly on the streets and Mount Kenya is a major source of this inexpensive fuel.

Back in the forest, a recent survey revealed more than 2,400 kilns producing charcoal from illegally felled trees. Charcoal burning is strictly illegal. It diminishes tree cover, increases the risk of fires and disturbs the forest's delicate eco-system. But for many young men, it is the only source of income in a very poor country and the need for cash far outweighs the risk of being caught.

Elephants: invasion of the crop raiders

Kenya is mainly a rural economy and people are desperate to farm the fertile land around the forest. But this means conflict between farmers and wildlife such as elephants, that roam around the forest reserve - often eating the crops on nearby farms.

Night after night farmers stand vigil over their farms, called shamba, ready to drive off wild elephants - which can destroy whole crops in one night. This battle between wildlife and man is mainly a result of man's encroachment onto land traditionally roamed by elephants. One solution is to build a wildlife barrier between farm and forest but it's unlikely that the government or the local farmers can afford the cost.

In our last story, Earth Report finds out how the shamba farming system is itself a contributor to the diminishing forest cover around Mount Kenya.

Agriculture: sustainable shamba?

The shamba system allows farmers to cultivate forest land on condition that they plant trees. Once the trees are grown the land should be returned to the forest reserve. This should have been part of a solution for the demand for timber but the scheme has been mismanaged and abused. In many areas trees have not been planted and the land has not been returned to the reserve.

All these problems of deforestation have their roots in poverty. In a country where so many of the population are poor, the conflict between short-term economic gain and long-term environmental conservation poses a difficult problem where there is no easy solution.

The preservation of Mount Kenya's water resources is critical for the country as a whole. But it's under threat. Local people desperate for forest resources are clearing large areas of pristine forest for illegal farming, logging and marijuana cultivation. Clearly the challenge for forest management is how to balance these economic needs with protection of the forest's micro-climate, water catchment, bio-diversity and soil stability.

But can these two conflicting needs be brought under control through careful management? Only time will tell if the coalition between the Forest Wildlife Service and the Forest Department can turn the tide of deforestation.