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But now his home and those of hundreds of other families are threatened as

the government evicts them over environmental concerns.

 

[Eric Awap Tuwei, Forest Dweller]:

"I have just come from my home after police came in and told me to leave, I didn't have anywhere to go. I'm still in shock because I don't know what to do. I just want the government to step in and sort this out. I was born in the forest, everything I own is in there. Forty years of my hard work is still in there."

 

The area in southwestern Kenya is the country's biggest closed canopy forest.

 

It is also a vital water catchment area.

 

The government says that illegal settlement and deforestation have already destroyed almost a quarter of the forest

 

The Mau feeds Lake Victoria and the White Nile, important water sources for a region where 23 million people have already lived through five years of drought.

 

It is also a question of politics

 

The controversy over who has the right to the land has split Kenya's

already fragile coalition.

 

The coalition was only formed last year after post-election violence killed at least 1,300 people and drove another 300,000 from their homes. 

 

Opposition-leader-turned Prime Minister, Raila Odinga is at the forefront of efforts to reverse the Mau destruction.

 

But his stance that any land given out illegally must be returned to the government has put him on a collision course with powerful ethnic Kalenjin politicians.

 

All of this has big implications for Kenya's next election in 2012. 

 

But the most immediate fear is that politicians and elders will use these evictions to stir up ethnic violence. 

 

For Nora Rono, sitting in a makeshift shack in Kapkembu, political infighting and environmental concerns are a long way from her current problems.

 

[Nora Rono, Forest Dweller]:

"I have a three week old daughter and I'm facing a lot of challenges because of this rain and the state of my shelter. I blame the government for all this, now I can't put a roof over my child's head. I'm really suffering, I can't even keep myself warm here."

 

Forty years ago, forests covered 12 percent of Kenya, now that's just 1.7 percent - massive environmental destruction which politicians like Odinga say is down to greed and mismanagement.