Gov’t revokes licences for uprooting, exporting Baobab trees

Soipan Tuya, the Cabinet Secretary for Environment and Forestry, has revoked the permits of a private company that had been given permission to uproot Baobab trees for export to the US.

Tuya issued a statement on Monday rescinding an earlier decision by the Kenya Forest Service (KFS) and the National Environment Management Agency (Nema) that allowed Ariba SeaWeed International to export the trees from Mtondia and Tezo in Kilifi County.

According to the statement, a private company and communities in Kilifi agreed to uproot trees, but before obtaining an access permit from NEMA, the company began uprooting the plants.

According to CS Tuya, NEMA then moved to court to halt the process, as the private company, seemingly undeterred, obtained a NEMA EIA license that was irregularly awarded by the county director of Environment in Kilifi County.

As a precaution, the CS directed the KFS to revoke the movement permit that allowed the trees to be transported until the matter was resolved.

“I am in possession of a letter from NEMA cancelling the EIA license that they used to uproot the said trees. Consequently, I have, with immediate effect; instructed KFS to cancel the Movement Permit that allowed for the transportation of the baobab trees, pending a comprehensive assessment of this case,” CS Tuya said.

At the same time, CS Tuya stated that they had agreed, in consultation with the CS of Roads, Transport, and Public Works, that the trees should not be exported until the parties' agreements were formalised correctly.

The latest comes in the wake of President Ruto’s direction that the ministry probes the uprooting exercise of the said trees.

President Ruto said the exercise must conform to the existing regulations including the Convention on Biodiversity and the Nagoya Protocol.

"I have instructed the Ministry of Environment and Forestry to look into the ongoing uprooting of Baobab trees in Kilifi County to ensure that it sits within the Convention on Biodiversity and the Nagoya Protocol,' wrote Ruto on Twitter.

He added that the exercise should be in tandem with the government's plan of planting 15 billion trees to help combat the effects of climate change.

"There must be adequate authorisation and an equitable benefit-sharing formula for 

Kenyans. Further, the exercise must be in line with the Government’s agenda of planting 15 billion trees in the next 10 years," he added.

The Nagoya Protocol, formally known as the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), came into force on October 12, 2014, and has been signed by over 50 countries including the UK and the EU.