The Aberdare Rain Forest is the water catchment area for both Sasumua and Ndakaini dams, Sasumua dam provides Nairobi with 11.1% of water and Ndakaini dam provides Nairobi with 84% of its water.  The rain forest is also the catchment area for Tana River, the largest river in Kenya, supplying water to the Seven Forks hydroelectric power complex which generates over 55 percent of Kenya's total electricity output.

Separately, the Aberdares is home to the endangered Black Rhino. 

In 1989, after years of illegal activities in the forest’s ecosystem, an initiative to fence the Aberdare was born. Led by Rhino Ark and with the support of individual and institutional well wishers, this initiative successfully delivered a 400km electric fence around the Aberdares in 2009. With this fence, the security of the wildlife in the Aberdares and farmers around the forest was secured. We have also recently seen that the proposed upgrade of a road through the fragile Aberdare ecosystem has been suspended due to lack of approval from key government agencies. This proposed road project would have destroyed the natural forest in the Aberdare ecosystem. The proposed Ihithe-Aberdare Forest-Kahuruko-Ndunyu Njeru Route realignment would have traversed 25 kilometers of closed canopy forest.

The County Government of Nyadarua which hosts the rainforest, proposed and enacted to hive off 163 or the almost 450,000 acres of the forest for dairy farming activities. Without looking at the arguments of the need to expand the industry, I believe the value the country gets from protecting the rainforest and improving it further, far outweighed the commercial benefits of a milk processing factory.

It is for this reason that we cannot and should not continue with the hear, see and do-nothing attitude on matters related to conservation. We have acted that way for a long time resulting in unpredictable weather patterns including drought and floods. Thirty- three years of conservation in the Aberdares is now at risk; threatening the forest cover that had by 2011 increased by an impressive 20.6% in a span of five years, and a 54% decrease in open grassland and cultivation inside the fenced 2000 km2 Aberdare conservation area; these developments should worry us all.

Sign and share this petition to demand that the protections the Aberdares enjoy remain in place.