Govt extends logging freeze by six months

This, Environment Cabinet Secretary Keriako Tobiko said, was to allow the sector get back on its feet and to regulate the wanton felling of trees that is threatening Kenya’s ecosystem.

“The government has extended the moratorium on logging ... so as to allow for the appointment of the new KFS [Kenya Forest Service] board and the interim reforms implementation committee to be finalised and to undertake immediate measures to streamline the operations of KFS and the management of the sector,” Mr Tobiko said in a statement on Wednesday.

The committee Mr Tobiko referred to was proposed by a taskforce report that looked into the extent of forest destruction.

In its report, the taskforce, headed by the chairperson of the Green Belt Movement Ms Marion Kamau, called for an audit of the KFS board, as well as a lifestyle audit of senior officials in the ministry and the board.

The report, which also called for a review of logging licenses, was presented on May 17, and its recommendations are still being implemented, Mr Tobiko said.

The logging ban was first effected in February this year.

“Deforestation, degradation and encroachment of water towers and other catchment areas, uncontrolled human activities including wanton logging have threatened and undermined the country’s capability to ensure food security. This situation poses a threat to the achievement of the Big Four agenda items of the Jubilee government,” Deputy President William Ruto said when he announced the ban.

After a protest from private loggers, the government in April clarified that harvesting and felling of timber in private plantations and woodlots could still go on, “provided there is a joint verification and confirmation of source and origin."