Klaus Toepfer, the chief of the Nairobi-based UNEP, said food and water shortages that Kenya and its neighbors Somalia, Ethiopia and Djibouti are now facing were made worse by the destruction of forest cover and wetlands and urged immediate steps to reverse the situation.

"Drought is no stranger to the people of East Africa," Toepfer said in a statement. "What has dramatically changed in recent decades is the ability of nature to supply essential services like water and moisture during hard times.

"This is because so much of natures water and rain-supplying services have been damaged, destroyed or cleared," he said. "Measures must be taken now to save lives and livelihoods. But we must also look to the future.

"Therefore it is vital that we not only maintain and conserve forests, wetlands, lakes and the like, but that we invest in their restoration and expansion," Toepfer said.

On Monday, Kenyan Nobel Peace laureate Wangari Maathai, who won the award for her Green Belt Movement that has planted some 30 million trees to counter desertification and promote human rights in Africa, blamed the drought on deforestation and called for speedy measures to reverse the damage.

The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) warned last week that 11 million people in Somalia, Kenya, Djibouti and Ethiopia are on the brink of starvation due to the drought which has stricken the Horn of Africa.

In Kenya alone, the current crisis declared a "national disaster" by President Mwai Kibaki has claimed more than 40 lives and relief agencies expect some 2.5 million people to need food aid to survive by the end of next month.

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