The Kenya Forest Service (KFS) has rejected claims circulating online that public forests are being illegally grabbed or reduced.
In a statement issued on April 29, the agency said all gazetted forests across the country remain intact and under government protection.
KFS said it currently manages about 2.59 million hectares of forest land, all of which is legally protected through official government notices and clearly marked boundaries.
“Gazettement refers to the legal process of revoking gazettment of public forests under the Forest Conservation and Management Act, 2016. There have been no losses of public forests due to gazettement,” it said.
According to the agency, degazettement must be preceded by an assessment process that takes into consideration social, technical, and environmental issues.
On issues of ownership, KFS stated that there was no need for title deeds in public forests since legal notices in the Kenya Gazette confirmed their ownership by the government.
In an attempt to justify its stand, the agency cited previous efforts to safeguard forest land by revoking more than 154 land titles considered irregular in 2017 with the assistance of NLC.
It cited efforts to restore Karura Forest through collaboration with EACC, adding that the recovered lands remained under the protection of the agency.
Forest lands, KFS argued, were not for sale but reserved for conservation purposes. However, third-party users could access forest land upon issuance of licenses, which were regulated, temporary, and did not confer ownership.
KFS said it had several pending court cases to safeguard forest lands from exploitation. The agency called on members of the public to report any form of encroachment.
KFS maintained that it can account for all forest land under its management and insisted that the country’s gazetted forests remain secure.
