Forestry Department Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations GLOBAL FOREST RESOURCES ASSESSMENT 2010 COUNTRY REPORT ENYA K FRA2010/107 Rome, 2010 The Forest Resources Assessment Programme Sustainably managed forests have multiple environmental and socio-economic functions important at the global, national and local scales, and play a vital part in sustainable development. Reliable and up- to-date information on the state of forest resources - not only on area and area change, but also on such variables as growing stock, wood and non-wood products, carbon, protected areas, use of forests for recreation and other services, biological diversity and forests’ contribution to national economies - is crucial to support decision-making for policies and programmes in forestry and sustainable development at all levels. FAO, at the request of its member countries, regularly monitors the world’s forests and their management and uses through the Forest Resources Assessment Programme. This country report forms part of the Global Forest Resources Assessment 2010 (FRA 2010). The reporting framework for FRA 2010 is based on the thematic elements of sustainable forest management acknowledged in intergovernmental forest-related fora and includes variables related to the extent, condition, uses and values of forest resources, as well as the policy, legal and institutional framework related to forests. More information on the FRA 2010 process and the results - including all the country reports - is available on the FRA Web site (www.fao.org/forestry/fra ). The Global Forest Resources Assessment process is coordinated by the Forestry Department at FAO headquarters in Rome. The contact person for matters related to FRA 2010 is: Mette Løyche Wilkie Senior Forestry Officer FAO Forestry Department Viale delle Terme di Caracalla Rome 00153, Italy E-mail: [email protected] Readers can also use the following e-mail address: [email protected] DISCLAIMER The designations employed and the presentation of material in this information product do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. The Global Forest Resources Assessment Country Report Series is designed to document and make available the information forming the basis for the FRA reports. The Country Reports have been compiled by officially nominated country correspondents in collaboration with FAO staff. Prior to finalisation, these reports were subject to validation by forestry authorities in the respective countries. 2 FRA 2010 – Country Report, Kenya Contents INTRODUCTION.....................................................................................................................................................5 1 TABLE T1 – EXTENT OF FOREST AND OTHER WOODED LAND..................................................7 2 TABLE T2 – FOREST OWNERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT RIGHTS..............................................12 3 TABLE T3 – FOREST DESIGNATION AND MANAGEMENT............................................................16 4 TABLE T4 – FOREST CHARACTERISTICS ........................................................................................19 5 TABLE T5 – FOREST ESTABLISHMENT AND REFORESTATION................................................22 6 TABLE T6 – GROWING STOCK.............................................................................................................24 7 TABLE T7 – BIOMASS STOCK..............................................................................................................27 8 TABLE T8 – CARBON STOCK...............................................................................................................29 9 TABLE T9 – FOREST FIRES ..................................................................................................................31 10 TABLE T10 – OTHER DISTURBANCES AFFECTING FOREST HEALTH AND VITALITY........34 11 TABLE T11 – WOOD REMOVALS AND VALUE OF REMOVALS ..................................................35 12 TABLE T12 – NON-WOOD FOREST PRODUCTS REMOVALS AND VALUE OF REMOVALS.37 13 TABLE T13 – EMPLOYMENT .................................................................................................................39 14 TABLE T14 – POLICY AND LEGAL FRAMEWORK ...........................................................................41 15 TABLE T15 – INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK ...................................................................................43 16 TABLE T16 – EDUCATION AND RESEARCH.....................................................................................45 17 TABLE T17 – PUBLIC REVENUE COLLECTION AND EXPENDITURE .........................................47 3 FRA 2010 – Country Report, Kenya Report preparation and contact persons The present report was prepared by the following person(s): Name (FAMILY Institution / E-mail Fax Tables NAME, First address name) Kefa M. Kenya Forest [email protected] 1,2,3,4,5,67,8,9,10,11,14 Wamichwe Service Kenya Forest Samuel Ihure [email protected] Service Kenya Forest Ogilo M.C.O. [email protected] 12,13,15&16 Service 4 FRA 2010 – Country Report, Kenya Introduction Generation of reliable forest resource data in Kenya continue to be hampered by the following challenges: Lack of standardized and harmonized data collection and management guidelines; Lack of a comprehensive natural resource database; High cost of generating natural resource data; Weak institutional linkages: Several public and private institutions possess a great deal of data and information on natural resources that is not shared; Inadequate capacities. Most of the institutions currently involved in natural resource data and information management have limited capacity to collect, analyze and store accurate scientific information on natural resources. The Kenya report is mainly based on Kenya Forest Master plan (1994) projections owing to the fact that no comprehensive forest resource assessment has been done since then. Other forest resource assessments that were conducted later covered a few ecosystems and most of them do not have published reports. The Kenya Forest Master Plan (KFMP) conducted national forest resource assessment between 1990 and 1994, through National Forest Plantation Inventory Project, Kenya Indigenous Forest Conservation (KIFCON) project, Department of Resource Survey and Remote Sensing (DRSRS) and KFMP staff. The KFMP is a 25 years plan that had envisaged two scenarios. One was on a do northing – current status scenario where the projection was done on the basis that the current forest management at that time would continue for the next 25 years while the master plan scenario assumed the adoption of master plan recommendations. This report quotes figures reflecting the current scenario owing to the fact that most of the recommendations of the master plan were not implemented. These figures also provide same trend with recent studies. Therefore in the absence of another comprehensive forest resource assessment the Master Plan projections have remained to be the most authoritative national forest resource estimates. Other references in this report include data from Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) and management data from Kenya Forest Service. The FAO supported AFRICOVER (2000) project data has also been considered in this report. However due to issues of definitions, the data generated requires further synthesis to be used for the purpose of this report and would require a consensus on some assumptions on land cover types to be included as forest area. In recognition of the current challenges, the government has secured funds for Natural Resource Management (NRM) from the World Bank that has components on national forest resource assessment. This will be done in three phases. Phase I which is ongoing is expected to be complete by the end of this year and involves the inventory of all gazetted Forest Plantations. The next phase will be the inventory of all indigenous forest. Phase III will be the assessment of tree resources outside gazetted forest. The data generated will be expected to provide information that reflects the true status of forest resources in the country. 5 FRA 2010 – Country Report, Kenya The ministry of Forest and Wildlife launched a Forestry Mainstreaming Initiative (FMI) in April 2009. One of the tasks of this initiative will be the development of Kenya Forest Resources Account through a multiphase account to capture the full value of forest resources. Other key institutions include Kenya Forest Service, Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS), Kenya Forest Research Institute (KEFRI) and Department of Resource Survey and Remote sensing (DRSRS). It is envisaged that this process will provide the main reference data for FAO FRA country reporting in future. 6 FRA 2010 – Country Report, Kenya 1 Table T1 – Extent of Forest and Other wooded land 1.1 FRA 2010 Categories and definitions Category Definition Forest Land spanning more than 0.5 hectares with trees higher than 5 meters and a canopy cover of more than 10 percent, or trees able to reach these thresholds in situ. It does not include land that is predominantly under agricultural or urban land use. Other wooded land Land not classified as “Forest”, spanning more than 0.5 hectares; with trees higher than 5 meters and a canopy cover of