Environmental activists are worried about Kenya’s proposed forest law

NAIROBI (Reuters, March 16th, 2016) – Kenyan parliamentarians have proposed amending Kenya’s forest laws to make it easier to alter the boundaries of protected areas. This move is opposed by activists who fear that it could negatively impact wildlife and the environment in the East African country.

Conservationists fear that the change will open up precious forest land to developers, while supporters of the amendment argue that it will protect people with legitimate claims to disputed lands from eviction.

The Forest Conservation and Management Amendment would reduce the power of Kenya’s Forest Service to veto proposed boundaries changes that would threaten rare species or water catchment zones. KFS did no respond to requests for comment.

The debate centers on the forests surrounding Nairobi, the capital of Kenya, which is currently under review by a parliamentary committee.

Christopher Muriithi, an environmentalist, gestured to a cluster built buildings and a road on the outskirts of Nairobi. “If that bill is allowed…what will we have is what is seen here,” he said.

However, the supporters of the amendment argue that changing law protects people who have already settled on disputed forests land – these may include families who have saved up to purchase a home in their good faith.

Although Nixon Korir has expressed support for an amend, he didn’t respond to requests for comments but previously stated that government must protect innocent home-owners.

According to Global Forest Watch and African Development Bank, Kenya lost around half of its forest coverage between 1980 and 2000. Another 11% was lost in the following 20 years.

Muriithi claimed that Oloolua occupied 682 hectares in his youth, but now estimates that it has decreased to 500. Individuals, loggers and developers carved vast tracts of lush land, as well as the state, who built a railway through the forest. He has lost the giraffes, zebras, and buffaloes that he used to remember.

Muriithi believes they won’t return, but he wants to protect what is still there. He is the head of a community association that patrols and replaces invasive trees by native ones and works with officials in prosecuting loggers.

This is dangerous. Muriithi discovered that an illegal log was being used in the forest. He was warned that he could become next.

He stood beside a pile containing dirt and wood fragments that he claimed was illegally cleared.

“They might kill me or another person, but they won’t kill the entire community.”

Reporting by Ayenat Mersie. Edited and edited by Ed Osmond

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