Kenya: Public participation is a key component in undertaking environmental audits of forest plantation management within specific forest ecosystems. All forest plantations are issued with Environmental Impact Assessment certificates and, hence, are required to have environmental audits undertaken periodically.
KFS has therefore hosted Forestry Sector Stakeholders in Nakuru County for a Public Participation Meeting on Environmental Audit on Forest Plantations Management within the Mau ecosystem. The commercial forestry approaches adopted by the Service, which are transforming the lives of forest-adjacent communities, have been lauded by participants.
They noted that the Service shouldn’t be stopped from harvesting plantation trees that have matured as they are planted for commercial purposes.
Forest plantation establishment is entrenched in the Forest Conservation and Management Act 2016, which provides that all plantation forests in a public forest shall be managed on a sustainable basis for the production of wood and other forest products and services for commercial purposes.
Kenya Forest Service and National Environment Management Authority entered the framework consent in the year 2014, it was agreed that KFS undertake EIA at the nine ecosystems, which include the Cherangany forests, Mau forests, Mt. Elgon forests, Kakamega forests, Aberdare forests, Mt. Kenya forests, Machakos County public forests, Kitui County public forests, and Makueni County Public forests.
Environmental audits are undertaken to establish the impact of outcomes of undertakings in environmental spaces. It is applied to assess the actual impacts of project activities and the mitigations therein.
The participants identified multiple benefits of plantation forestry on communities. These include improved livelihoods and food security, and benefits accrued from collecting firewood from the non-merchandisable parts of harvested trees. They said that it is heartbreaking to see over-mature plantation trees going to waste with diseases while others are felled by the wind.
