How local communities are restoring Kenya’s forests

Today, we mark the International Day of Forests. Many may wonder why dedicate a whole day to forests? Forests are silent saviours of humankind.

In silence they clean our air, provide us with clean water, give us fruits, medicine, recreation, gums, resins, wood and fuel.

A rotting log will silently fertilise the ground on which other trees will grow. According to the United Nations, approximately 1.6 billion people globally depend directly on forests for their livelihoods.

With the advent of climate change, forests hold the panacea to cooling an overheating globe and act as carbon sink for safe storage of green-house gases.

Forests are there to correct the wrongs human beings have committed through their sins of commission and omission and a day dedicated to them is certainly not too much to ask.

Raise awareness

The United Nations General Assembly proclaimed March 21 the International Day of Forests in 2012 to celebrate and raise awareness on the importance of forests.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) estimates that forests store more than one trillion tons of carbon; a pointer to their enormous role in calming climate change.

This potential we can further strengthen through improved conservation, rehabilitation, tree planting in new areas and replacement of destroyed forests.

Climate change is here, already raring its ugly face on almost all spheres of human life. This has awakened the need for us to conserve our forests as a mitigation measure.

The importance of forests in a globe faced with climate change culminated in the declaration of 2012 by the United Nations as an International Year of Forests with the launch of an FAO flagship publication the State of the World Forests (SOFO).

This publication until today reports on the global status of forests, major policy and institutional developments as well as other forest-related issues.

It specifically seeks to raise awareness on forests and subsequently improve their sustainable management at a time when forests have been destroyed through human activities.

The celebration of the International Day of Forests echoes these aspirations towards sustainable development of forests for the benefit of current and future generations.

Through donors such as the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and the Green Climate Fund (GCF), countries have worked towards the targeted forest covers with an amazing pace that deserves applause as we mark this important day.

Forest cover targets

The UN Strategic Plan for Forests aims to promote sustainable management of forests as a means of achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goal number one — increasing global forest area by three percent by 2030.

To domesticate the agenda, countries have set their own targets. Kenya aims to have a 10 percent tree cover by 2030.

Acknowledging destructive human behaviours, experts are working to tap into this and convert it into conservation of forests. In Kenya, where the government is working in collaboration with the FAO and other stakeholders, this has been the message.

Through discussions with communities the message has been internalised and Kenya is on a path to restoration of most of her forests.

An example in time is the Kirisia Forest in Samburu County. This forest was at the brink of total destruction by loggers, unsustainable management practices and lack of incentives.

Due to this mismanagement, the forest turned into a charcoal burning furnace, a timber production factory and a grazing field.

Local communities

Through the intervention of FAO, the Kenya Forests Service, local leaders, the county government and other key stakeholders, the local communities were sensitised on the importance of forests conservation.

This resulted in communities voluntarily moving out of the Kirisia Forest and now taking lead in the restoration and conservation efforts in the forest.

These efforts have seen sprouting of new seedlings and the resurrection of streams thathad dried due to destruction of this forest.

This has seen a return of some wildlife species to Kirisia Forest and a reduction in human wildlife conflict due to people not living in the forest. It is a clear indication of improved biodiversity conservation (both flora and fauna).

The same approach to sustainable forest management is also being implemented in Mt Kulal and Mukogodo forests. These communities are among the heroes that we celebrate today.

Today as we mark this great day the onus is on all of us to see to it that we contribute to the sustainable management of forests for current and future generations.

We should remember that 2021-2030 is the UN decade of ecosystem restoration and each one of us has a critical role to play — plant a tree during birthdays, anniversaries, funerals and other important occasions and watch it grow.