Dominic Walubengo
5 April 2001
Following the recent announcement by the minister responsible that he intended to de-gazette 167,000 acres of forestland, there was a lot of resistance from environmentalists, politicians and wananchi in general.
In this article, I intend to point out the importance of forests and suggest ways in which they could be managed on a sustainable basis.
The question can now be posed: why are our forests managed so poorly?
Kenya's forests are managed by several agencies. The Forest Department manages all gazetted forests which may be indigenous or plantation; the Kenya Wildlife Service manages those forests which fall under the area controlled by the Service; County Councils manage the forests in the trust lands and on hills; while private individuals or companies manage forests on private lands.
What are the problems that face these forest managers? The reality on the ground is that forests that are managed by the Forest Department and the county councils are not performing their functions and are in fact dwindling at a high rate. On the other hand, those forests that fall under KWS or are owned by private individuals and companies are thriving.
Here I will single out the Forest Department because all the forests that are intended for de-gazetting fall under this department. The Forest Department has three major problems that must be solved urgently:
Firstly, there is animosity and mistrust between the communities that border forests and the Forest Department as personified by forest guards and forest officers. The result is that there are constant skirmishes with communities; there are illegal squatters in forests; forests are often set on fire; and communities do not protect forests against illegal poachers. This state of affairs is not helping the country's forests.
Secondly, there is not enough transparency and accountability in the management of forests. Thus in a number of areas, forest officers and forest guards hold their own "courts", "fine" offenders, and confiscate whatever has been illegally obtained. The fines and the confiscated materials end up in the pockets of the forest officers or forest guards. In other areas, foresters collude with timber companies to defraud the state. Further, in many cases, forest land has been allocated to "developers" under very unclear circumstances, while in others even water catchment areas have been placed under agriculture by local communities. All these have led to forest degradation and demoralization of honest officers.
Lastly, the Forest Department does not attract adequate resources to enable it to run efficiently. The allocation from the Treasury is only enough to pay salaries and provide essential services. The result is that forest extension is now non-existent, tree nurseries are not operating, there is no forest protection capability and worse, there is no capability to re-afforest. Further, because the department has not got the capability to re-afforest, some non-resident cultivators have been working on the same forest plots for up to ten years, making it difficult to evict them.
So then, what can be done to turn the Forest Department around? First of all, the problems listed above must be given priority and be brushed aside. In addition, the Department must as a matter of urgency produce three management plans: short-term (3 years); medium term ( 20 years); long term (60 years).
In attempting to solve its problems, the Forest Department should not use its "business as usual" style. What does the Department need? It needs to do the following. Put in place dynamic leadership that is willing to take bold decisions; adapt to changes as dictated by the present social, economic, and environmental conditions; and put in place new policies and legislation that would enable the department to adapt accordingly.
The dynamic leadership of the department would, working within current or new legislation aim to increase forest cover in Kenya to the internationally acceptable level of between five per cent and 10 per cent of total land cover. A deliberate effort must be made to re-plant and to ensure sustainability.
This would be done in part by:
Surveying all state forests to establish boundaries and what is on the ground. Having done this, title deeds would be obtained for those forests which do not have any. Further, the survey would establish what resources are available for commercial use or biological diversity conservation.
Putting in place mechanisms for managing the two different types of forests (biodiversity and commercial). As the forests for biological diversity conservation need more technical know-how, these would be co-managed with a competent agency with the Forest Department taking the lead. The commercial forests would be managed in collaboration with other stakeholders under lease.
Lease out plantation forests to pulp, timber, sugar and tea companies. The Forest Department has not planted new areas or even effectively re-planted clear-felled plantations in the past ten years. The private companies would be allocated plantation areas depending on demand and proximity. The lease period and the consideration to be paid would be decided following appropriate discussions and negotiations. The resources obtained from leases would be used for conservation work.
Lease out selected areas to companies which would like to produce posts, fuelwood and charcoal. These products will continue to be in demand in Kenya and a provision should be made to make them available.
Co-manage, with a competent agency, forests that are important for water catchment and biological diversity conservation.
Co-manage selected forests with community forest associations. These associations would be formed by communities living adjacent to the selected forests. However, special arrangements would have to be made in the case of forests that are considered important water catchment areas and biological diversity reservoirs.
As much as possible, and depending on their use as decribed above, County Council forests would be gazetted and either leased to private companies, co-managed with a competent agency (biodiversity) , or co-managed with communities.
The forestland that was turned over to Nyayo Tea Zones and which was cleared of trees and yet not planted with tea, should be handed back immediately to the Forest Department and replanted with trees.
Forest officers and guards would be re-trained to understand their new roles as facilitators. They would assist communities to make management plans and provide support to the private sector leased forests.
The implementation of the activities listed above would indeed need bold and dynamic leadership. It would also require hard work and enough political space to allow the department to operate. Thus in the case of leases, this could be done either under current legislation or under legislation that is now under preparation. The companies would agree to take on some foresters from the department to provide technical assistance in the establishment and managing of the forests.
In the case of co-management with competent agencies or local communities, the department would second foresters to offer them technical assistance in species selection, planting and preparing management plans.
In all cases, the agreements would include the fact that the forests must not change their status and become agricultural farms, for example.
Whenever any changes have been suggested in the management of forests in any country, there has been serious resistance from the Forest Department. This resistance should be expected in Kenya too. And it is not necessarily such a bad thing. Resistance to change offers the change managers an opportunity to convince those against change by sharpening their ideas further. One of the fears that foresters express is that change will leave them with no role to play.
The Forest Department would have several important roles like regulating and ensuring that the leasing and co-management agreements are adhered to.
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