The Kenya Forest Service has been fighting an ongoing battle against illegal encroachment onto national forest lands.
In early January, the national forest department set ablaze a two-room structure they had found unlawfully constructed deep within the Makutani Forest.
As Kenyans.co.ke reported, this illegal structure had been built "in recent months," as an attempt to lay claim to gazetted forest land, or forest land formally declared by the national government.
Although there had been rumors that the demolished building was a school for the local community, the forest department issued an official statement refuting these claims, clarifying that the building had been erected at the behest of a local leader and without approval.
As per national law, under the Forest Conservation and Management Act No. 34, settlement, farming, logging, or other land development uses are prohibited on state-owned forest lands without approval — including all 13,000 acres of the Makutani Forest, which had been formally declared in 2017 via Legal Notice No. 265, according to The Kenya Times.
This illegal structure "posed a security challenge," the Forest Service described, per Kenyans.co.ke. Leaving the structure standing would have signaled to local pastoral communities, whose livelihoods depend on raising livestock, that national forest lands are open for appropriation or commercialization.
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The Mau Forest in Kenya has already undergone significant deforestation, threatening an important water source for millions of people across Kenya and East Africa.
Efforts to protect and restore national Kenyan forests through the carbon credit market — whose sales funded local forest conservation efforts — have dwindled after Verra, a leading facilitator of credits, was found to have inflated environmental baselines, which enabled increased carbon credit sales.
Kenya Forest Service's demolition of this unlawful structure on state-owned forest lands represents a concerted effort by the national forest department not only to secure national forest lands, but also to protect and conserve natural lands against unnecessary human development.
Conservation efforts have been steadily taking place across the country.
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