Kenya Forest Service defends ongoing logging in Karura, Thogoto
![Kenya Forest Service defends ongoing logging in Karura, Thogoto Kenya Forest Service defends ongoing logging in Karura, Thogoto](https://citizentv.obs.af-south-1.myhuaweicloud.com/143411/conversions/AFP__20191024__1LA5TE__v3__Preview__KenyaEnvironmentPolitics-og_image.webp)
People run in Karura Forest. (Photo by AFP)
The Kenya Forest Service (KFS) has spoken
out about the ongoing logging at Nairobi’s Karura Forest and Thogoto Forest in
Kiambu County which has sparked uproar from Kenyans over its legality.
Recent photos and videos circulated widely on
social media show trees felled in various sections of the two forests, with trucks
ferrying the piles of logs along the roads.
Through a statement on Tuesday, KFS dismissed allegations that the logging is illegal. The agency said the operation is part of ongoing forest plantation harvesting countrywide in line with the government’s felling plan for the 2024/25 financial year.
“In Karura Forest harvesting exotic tree species for fuel wood and fencing posts is currently ongoing in an area of 6.3 hectares,” KFS said, adding that indigenous trees will be replanted during the March to May long rain season.
“The management plan for Karura Forest aims
to convert the exotic plantations into natural forests for conservation
purposes,” noted the agency.
In Thogoto, KFS said “mature and over-mature” forest plantations on 109.50 hectares are being harvested.
“Once complete, depending on the plantation
age, some plantations will be left to coppice and will be managed according to
the forest technical order while
others will be replanted through plantation establishment and livelihood
improvement scheme,” read the statement.
KFS said relevant announcements were displayed
at Karura before the logging began and that documents detailing the logging in both forests are available to the public.
“Forest plantations are deliberately
established to provide timber for the domestic market. This is different from
indigenous forests, which are conserved for ecological integrity,” it added.
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