The lifting of a nearly six-year logging moratorium was announced on Sunday by Kenyan President William Ruto, over the protests of environmentalists.
Ruto argued that the decision was “long overdue” and that it will help the economy by allowing for the establishment of jobs-generating firms that rely on forest products.
“We can’t have mature trees rotting in forests while locals suffer due to lack of timber. That’s foolishness,” he said at a church service in Molo, a town about 200 kilometres (120 miles) northwest of the capital Nairobi.
“This is why we have decided to open up the forest and harvest timber so that we can create jobs for our youth and open up business.”
Ruto announced that the government would carry out its intentions to plant 15 billion trees over the next ten years. Ruto is leading African efforts to combat climate change.
The lifting of the prohibition will likely be welcomed by the sawmillers and lumber traders who claimed that it had led to a major loss of jobs.
The former administration imposed the restriction in public and community forests in February 2018 to halt massive criminal logging and increase the nation’s forest cover to 10%.
However, the decision would have “catastrophic environmental consequences,” according to Greenpeace Africa.
“In Kenya, forests are home to rare and endangered species, and millions of local people depend on these forests for their livelihoods, relying on them for food and medicine,” it said last month in a petition against the move.
“Since the Kenyan government imposed the ban on logging six years ago, significant progress has been made in forest protection and with combatting the climate crisis,” it said.
“Lifting the ban will undo all our hard work, as it will open the floodgates to commercial and illegal logging solely driven by profit. Our forests will be at the mercy of sawmillers who have no regard for the consequences.”
According to government data, forestry and logging contributed 1.6 percent to Kenya’s economy in 2017. These same numbers stated that the overall forest cover would reach 8.8 percent in 2022.
