Saving Kenya’s Forests

Category: Forest loss | Date: Oct 29 2007 | By: admin

The Maasai Mau Forest covers 46,278 hectares, and is located some 17 kilometers north of Narok Town, near the world famous Maasai Mara National Reserve. It is part of the larger Mau Forest Complex, Kenya’s largest forest block and East Africa’s largest single block of closed canopy indigenous forest.

Once pristine, Maasai Mau has become the target of unfortunate land allocations, which have resulted in massive destruction. By February 2005, when an aerial survey was conducted resulting in the publication of the Maasai Mau Forest Status Report, the western part was heavily destroyed. At that time, the forest was being actively cleared with smoke billowing above the forest canopy.

In 2005, the government took action against further destruction of the forest, evicting nearly 10,000 people from the affected area. The controversial evictions, reported to be unnecessarily brutal, resulted in a court case instituted against the government that now stops it from taking further action, including further action against people who are returning to the forest and carving out new plots.

A visit in September 2007 by the KFWG and journalists from the Kenya Broadcasting Corporation recorded intensive farming, timber sawing and charcoal burning. Those interviewed said they had bought the land and will not leave unless the Government compensates them and offers alternative land.

The illegal sale of the forest land by unscrupulous persons is the genesis of the problem. While most of the forests in the Mau Forest Complex have been gazetted and are managed by the Kenya Forest Service (former Forest Department), the Maasai Mau Forest is Trust Land, managed by the County Council of Narok (NCC), which also manages the Maasai Mara National Reserve. In 1999, the Council gave consent to surrounding group ranches (owned communally) to be subdivided and sold to members. After consent was issued, government officers, politicians, private surveyors and influential people increased the sizes of the group ranches far in excess of their registered areas. The additional land in the forest was then sold to unsuspecting outsiders who had no information about the forest. Most of them say they sold their farms at their original homes and used the money to buy land in the forest.

The government had agreed to offer alternative land to people who had title deeds to their forest plots. That exercise never took place. Further promises have been made by a variety of politicians and officials.

Now deeply suspicious of these promises, the evictees would rather stay put in the forest, unless a solution is provided. Meanwhile, the forest continues to suffer.

9 responses so far

Category: Conservation | Date: Oct 11 2007 | By: admin

Dear fellow tree lovers, welcome to Kenya’s Forests. My name is Michael Gachanja, I’m the coordinator of the Kenya Forests Working Group and I’ll be telling you all about our activities.

Forests are crucial to our country and its people’s well being. All sectors of our economy – water, agriculture, tourism, power and industry – depend on healthy forests. Sadly, we have been extremely irresponsible in Kenya and reduced our forest cover to a critical 1.7% of the total land area. The country is in serious trouble!

I believe that the future of Kenya’s forests lies in all our hands, and we must protect and conserve forests for the benefit of all Kenyans, living and unborn.

As coordinator of the Kenya Forest Working Group I manage the various interest groups of individuals and organizations (government and non-government, local, national and international) concerned with forests, their conservation and management. We formed the KFWG in 1995 to provide a forum for exchanging and sharing information and experiences among members. It exists as a sub-committee of the East African Wild Life Society.

Our main activities include advocacy - forest advocacy actually, dealing with forest policy issues, raising awareness, forests monitoring, information gathering and dissemination, and community based action.

We manage a Forest Hotline where criminal acts against our national forests can be reported

The Kenya Forests Working Group’s FOREST HOTLINE…

Tel: 254-20-3871335 Safaricom 0726 816000 Celtel 0736 600700

Call the HOTLINE to report DESTRUCTION, PROBLEMS, or UPDATES regarding any forest in KENYA.

You can use the HOTLINE to find out about forests and the work of KFWG.

before I go remember - go plant a tree today!

5 responses so far