Illegal logging, extraction of forest resources for domestic, medicinal and aesthetic use have been identified as threats to forest ecosystems in Kenya.
According to a report by the National Crime Research Centre (NCRC), corruption, banditry, cattle rustling, poaching, and wildlife trafficking are the most prevalent secondary crimes targeting forest flora.
Kenya’s vital forests are continuously being destroyed, negatively affecting the country’s environmental health, biodiversity and climate stability.
The top drivers of forest crime are poverty, the lack of livelihoods, and the expansion of the construction industry, which provides a ready market for forest products.
“Indigenous tree species are the most targeted products,” the report states.
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Forest crimes are committed by tightly knit networks of individuals, small businesses, rogue government officials, local community groups, criminal groups and local leaders, who often facilitate or enable illegal activities through their authority or influence.
“In this network, individuals play the most central role in multiple positions as suppliers, consumers, and middlemen. Most prohibited forest products are traded in raw/unprocessed form, sold directly to end customers through middlemen,” the report adds.
Policy and regulatory frameworks, reforestation, and law enforcement are perceived as the most effective measures for protecting and conserving forest ecosystems in Kenya.
“The main challenges in addressing environmental crimes and threats to forest ecosystems are inadequate financial, human, and infrastructural resources, corruption, inadequate community participation, and low crime reporting rates,” the report states.
The Kenya Forest Service (KFS) is considered the most trusted and visible government actor in protecting forest ecosystems.
To deal with the challenge, the NCRC has recommended that the Ministry of Environment, Climate Change and Forestry, through the KFS, county governments, NGAO and non-state agencies, should enhance alternative strategies to promote alternative income sources and livelihood strategies that complement forest conservation and protection for communities residing within forest ecosystems.
“This may include integrating tree planting with crops in selected forest blocks and areas that support biodiversity and sustainable agriculture,” it recommended.
NCRC added: “The KFS should adopt a multi-agency framework to strengthen forest governance and law enforcement by integrating critical stakeholders such as National Police Service, Kenya Wildlife Service, County Governments and other security and law enforcement actors. This should also integrate the use of technology, such as drones in monitoring and surveillance of forests in the country.”
To improve reporting and deter forest ecosystem-related crimes as corruption, the KFS should establish anonymous forest crimes reporting frameworks and reward system such as Toll-Free telephone number.
It further recommended that the KFS in collaboration with National Government Administration Officers (NGAO), the Ministry of Education, County governments and the media should design and implement sustainable, targeted forest conservation public sensitisation and educational campaigns that integrate community barazas, Nyumba Kumi, and Community Forest Associations.
“These should also be integrated into the competency-based education curriculum for learners to mainstream the protection and conservation of forest ecosystems within the formal learning environment,” the report adds.
To disrupt criminal underworld and networks dealing in forest related products, the KFS should undertake intelligence-led surveillance and monitoring of the sources of wood fuel energy supplied to industries and educational institutions, particularly timber yards, furniture manufacturers, schools, colleges, universities, bricks, tea and coffee processing factories to ensure that these sources do not include forest ecosystems.
The forest ecosystem in Kenya comprises 7,180,000.66 hectares (12.13 per cent) of tree cover and 5,226,191.79 hectares (8.83per cent) of forest cover.
This consists of natural forests and forest plantations. Natural forests cover 84 per cent of the closed canopy, and are categorised into montane forests, western rainforests, coastal forests, and dryland forests.
Montane forests, primarily Mt Kenya, Aberdare Range, Mau Forest Complex, Mt Elgon, and Cherangani Hills, are the primary types and are popularly known as the Five Water Towers regulating more than 75 per cent of the country’s renewable water resources.
Natural forests, mainly mixed indigenous forests and bamboo-dominated forests, are biologically rich and contain a high concentration of endemic plant and animal species.
Electricity power supply, tea, and tobacco industries are among the leading investors in private plantations for posts, transmission, and building poles, as well as sawn timber and fuelwood to dry their products.
Forest crimes entail the illegal exploitation of high-value endangered flora species such as rosewood, sandalwood, red cedar, which are increasingly threatened with extinction.
The NCRC study sought to explore the patterns of forest crimes and threats to forest ecosystems; establish the drivers of environmental crimes and threats to forest ecosystems; examine the effectiveness of measures in addressing environmental crimes and threats; and also to identify challenges in addressing environmental crimes and threats to forest ecosystems.
According to the Africa Organised Crime Index (ENACT, 2023), Kenya has a high floral crime index of 6.0, which is above the region’s overall criminality index of 5.88.