Kenya Forest Service criticised for replacing native trees with exotic plantations.

A farmer at Logoman in Mau Forest. [Kennedy Gachuhi, Standard]

Poor management of the shamba system has led to reduced indigenous forest cover in the country, conservationists have said.

In the shamba system, also known as Plantation Establishment and Livelihood Improvement Scheme (Pelis), the Kenya Forest Service allows communities to cultivate crops during the early stages of forest plantation.

Exotic trees for commercial purposes are planted on the cultivated parts.

The conservationists criticised the Kenya Forest Service for allowing extensive replacement of indigenous sections of the forests with exotic trees through Pelis.

Joseph Leboo from the Lembus Council of Elders said the Pelis system in the eight blocks of Lembus Forest, which is part of the Mau complex in Baringo County, has contributed to the replacement of indigenous trees as a result of improper zoning.

"Exotic trees should not be planted in some areas, especially river banks and hills. Unfortunately, through the Pelis system, these trees have replaced the indigenous ones and when they are harvested, they leave the land bare and prone to erosion," Mr Leboo said.

Indigenous trees, he said, promoted conservation of water towers, replenishing rivers while the exotic type is fast-growing and takes up a lot of water. He added that indigenous forest areas that host critically endangered species, such as the mountain bongo, were fast getting depleted.

“The indigenous trees are good for conservation, but greed and mismanagement has reduced the planting of exotic trees, which are also commercial. Instead of the service replanting degraded and reclaimed parts of forest land formerly under indigenous trees, they have instead planted commercial trees,” he added.

Green Life, Nature and Ecosystem Network Director Richard Keter said Pelis had done little in conservation and had instead contributed to the destruction and systematic encroachment of indigenous parts of the forest.

John Chumo, the secretary of the National Environmental Complaints Committee, said improper zoning of forests had led to the rapid replacement of indigenous forests.