Nairobi — The government has renewed efforts to tame illegal grazing in gazetted forests to protect the National Tree Growing Campaign.

The Ministry of Environment, Climate Change and Forestry Friday announced a three-pillar approach to tackle illegal grazing, promising to scale up forest surveillance.

The plan, the ministry said, will include the deployment of technology to enhance surveillance and sensing off of gazetted forests.

"The Ministry, working with partners, is deploying technology to enhance forest surveillance; hastening delineation of boundaries; and expanding the fencing programme to cover all gazetted public forests," Cabinet Secretary Soipan Tuya noted in a public advisory.

Tuya however said the ministry will facilitate sustainable harvesting grass harvesting and grazing by duly registered members of Community Forest Associations (CFAs).

"On matters of forest user rights, the Ministry shall only engage with forest adjacent communities that are members of duly registered Community Forest Associations (CFAs) through negotiated Participatory Forest Management Plans (PFMPs) and Forest Management Agreements (FMAs) as stipulated in the law," she stated.

The CS urged the Chief Conservator of Forests to ensure the implementation of established rules and regulations on grazing and grass harvesting in public forests.

Tuya noted progress made to protect forests as part of President William Ruto's 10-year National Landscape and Ecosystem Restoration Strategy.

The plan seeks to grow the country's forest cover to 30 per cent by 2032 by introducing 15 billion additional trees as part of Nature Based Solutions (NBS) interventions to combat the climate change crisis.

Tuya said the Kenya Forest Services (KFS) had reported a significant decline in forest-related crimes since the recruitment and deployment of an additional 2,700 forest rangers, 100 cadets and 468 foresters.