NAIROBI: Parliamentarians are proposing amending Kenya’s forest law to make it easier to change the borders of protected areas, a move activists warn could adversely affect wildlife and the environment in the east African country.

Conservationists say the change would open precious forest land to developers while supporters of the amendment argue it will help protect people with legitimate claims to disputed land from eviction.

The Forest Conservation and Management Amendment would weaken the power of Kenya’s Forest Service (KFS) to veto proposed boundary changes that would endanger rare species or water catchment areas. KFS did not respond to calls seeking comment.

Forests around the developing Kenyan capital of Nairobi, nicknamed the “green city in the sun”, are at the heart of the debate, now under review by parliamentary committee.

“If that amendment bill is allowed...what we will have is what we are seeing here,” said environmentalist Christopher Muriithi, gesturing to a cluster of buildings and a tarmac road cutting through land once part of Oloolua Forest on Nairobi’s outskirts.

But the amendment’s supporters argue changing the law protects people already settled on disputed forest land — they may be families who saved up to buy a home in good faith. Parliamentarian Nixon Korir, who has expressed support for an amendment, did not respond to requests for comment but previously said the government must act to protect innocent home owners.

Kenya lost about half of its forest cover between 1980 and 2000, said African Development Bank, and another 11pc in the subsequent two decades, according to Global Forest Watch.

Published in Dawn, March 17th, 2022