Activists Fear Kenya Forests Threatened Due to Government Development

By Joyce Chimbi
NAIROBI, Mar 13 2025 – After the controversial lifting of a six-year moratorium or temporary ban on logging activities in public and community forests by the Kenyan government in July 2023, trucks ferrying tree logs are frequently seen on major highways in total disregard of environmental concerns.

With just 12 percent tree cover and 8.8 percent forest cover, Kenya is one of the least forested countries in Africa. Of the country’s 1,100 native tree species, 10 percent are already threatened with extinction.

“Kenya’s government talks big on all matters climate change and even hosted the first-ever Africa Climate Summit in September 2023, just two months after lifting the 2018 moratorium on logging which was put in place to stop the widespread deforestation ongoing at that time,” says Auma Lynn Onyango, an environmentalist and active member of Mbunge La Mwananchi (People’s Parliament), a pro-poor social movement.

The consequences were immediate. The Kenya Forestry Research Institute (KEFRI) reported that six million eucalyptus trees were cut down in just six months, January to June 2024 for processed timber export to China and India. The loss is equivalent to five Karura forests. Karura Forest is 2,570 acres or 1,041 hectares, a protected urban forest and one of the biggest forests in the world that is entirely within a city.

Kenya’s forest cover is significantly declining, with reports indicating a continuous decrease in forest cover over the years. The East African country has fallen below the target of 10 percent forest cover as a minimum requirement set by the 2010 Kenyan constitution.

Amidst growing fears that the country’s forest wonderlands are vanishing with every load, the situation has worsened as the government’s development plans are destroying forests and their ecosystems, placing the country on a collision course with climate change.

Onyango tells IPS that even as the Kenyan government steps forward to host the second biennial Africa Climate Summit 2025, should no other country be up to the task, Karura Forest in Nairobi County is now one of several key forests in harm’s way as the government prioritises development over environmental protection.

Others are Suam Forest in Trans Nzoia County, Aberdare Forest which straddles four counties including Nyandarua, Nyeri, Murang’a, Kiambu and Laikipia in Kenya’s Aberdare Mountain Range and Oloolua Forest that straddles the border of Nairobi and Kajiado counties.

The government plans to allocate 50 acres of Suam Forest for the construction of a border town and housing project to support a one-stop border post with neighbouring Uganda. In 2020, the Nyandarua County government proposed selling 163 acres of Aberdare Forest to expand a local township and for dairy farming.

The government plans to widen and tarmac a dirt road across the Aberdare Mountain Range, which is currently under consideration for UNESCO World Heritage status for its unique landscape, diverse ecosystems and significant biodiversity, including rare species such as the mountain bongo antelope. The plans are on hold due to a court order. The Conservatory Order was extended to protect Aberdare National Park and Forest.

Further, the government intends to take 51.64 acres of Karura Forest for road expansion. The plan was halted by the Environment and Land Court in December 2024 in a court ruling following the Green Belt Movement’s petition to stop the development.

“But something very sinister and illegal seems to be happening in Karura Forest. When joggers first noticed significant cutting down of trees in the forest and took the issue to social media, the Kenya Forest Service responded and said that they are only removing old trees and that this was also happening in Thogoto Forest next door in Kiambu County to rejuvenate the forest,” Job Kamau, a Nairobi-based activist, tells IPS.

“That was in October 2024. Till now, the exotic trees are being removed and we are yet to see replanting of trees activities in these areas. We are being hoodwinked.”

Kamau says the Oloolua Forest situation exposed the double speak that defines the government’s position on environmental protection, conservation and preservation. An increase in illegal activities was first reported by the Oloolua Community Forest Association inside the forest that has an estimated 926 acres of endemic forest, 269 acres of degraded forest and 385 acres of eucalyptus plantation.

A portion of Oloolua forest land was allegedly grabbed and title deeds were issued to high-ranking government officials and politicians. The Oloolua community protested and raised alarm in April 2024, saying that no less than 66 acres of forest land had been grabbed by high-ranking people in government and parliament.

As a result of a public outcry, the Kenya Forest Service stopped the construction of a perimeter wall in Oloolua Forest. Kamau says, “Relevant government agencies pretended not to know who gave who land titles and permits to allow construction and the investigation we were promised into these illegal activities is yet to produce results seven months down the line. Title deeds and permits for construction are issued by government agencies.”

“In that same 2024, a developer, and again the government is in the dark as to their identity, was mapping and beginning construction of a restaurant and golf club in Ngong Forest, another gazetted forest land in Kajiado County close to Oloolua Forest,” he says.

Kimeli Winston, a resident of Ngong and a community-based conservationist, says high-ranking government officials have demonstrated an unprecedented “big appetite for land. Having grabbed public land in open spaces reserved for public institutions such as schools and other communal facilities such as playgrounds, they have gone back to our forests. We now believe that they kicked out forest communities to create room for themselves.”

Data from Global Forest Watch shows that from 2001 to 2023, Kenya lost 2.32 hectares of tree cover from fires and 384 hectares from all other drivers of loss. The year with the most tree cover loss due to fires during this period was 2022 with 190 hectares lost to fires — 2.9 percent of all tree cover loss for that year.

At this rate and with the lifting of the moratorium on logging and government development plans in forest land, Kenya’s majestic forests will eventually be confined to the annals of history.

IPS UN Bureau Report

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IPS UN Bureau, IPS UN Bureau Report, Kenya