|
KENYA
|
Kenya Forest Figures
Forest Cover
Total forest area: 3,522,000 ha
% of land area: 6.2%
Primary forest cover: 704,000 ha
% of land area: 1.2%
% total forest area: 20.0%
Deforestation Rates, 2000-2005
Annual change in forest cover: -12,000 ha
Annual deforestation rate: -0.3%
Change in defor. rate since '90s: -1.4%
Total forest loss since 1990: -186,000 ha
Total forest loss since 1990:-5.0%
Primary or "Old-growth" forests
Annual loss of primary forests: -2400 ha
Annual deforestation rate: -0.3%
Change in deforestation rate since '90s: -4.3%
Primary forest loss since 1990: -12,000 ha
Primary forest loss since 1990:-5.1%
Forest Classification
Public: 97.8%
Private: 2.2%
Other: 0%
Use
Production: n.s.%
Protection: 100%
Conservation: n/a
Social services: n/a
Multiple purpose: n/a
None or unknown: n/a
Forest Area Breakdown
Total area: 3,522,000 ha
Primary: 704,000 ha
Modified natural: 2,616,000 ha
Semi-natural: n/a
Production plantation: 202,000 ha
Production plantation: n/a
Plantations
Plantations, 2005: 202,000 ha
% of total forest cover: 5.7%
Annual change rate (00-05): -2,000,000 ha
Carbon storage
Above-ground biomass: 536 M t
Below-ground biomass: 133 M t
Area annually affected by
Fire: 3,000 ha
Insects: n/a
Diseases: n/a
Number of tree species in IUCN red list
Number of native tree species: n/a
Critically endangered: 3
Endangered: 14
Vulnerable: 50
Wood removal 2005
Industrial roundwood: 2,402,000 m3 o.b.
Wood fuel: 24,256,000 m3 o.b.
Value of forest products, 2005
Industrial roundwood: n/a
Wood fuel: n/a
Non-wood forest products (NWFPs): n/a
Total Value: n/a
More forest statistics for Kenya
|
Kenya has very little rainforest (mostly montane forest) cover, and these scattered patches are being further degraded for fuelwood and building material. Overall forest loss in Kenya has been moderate over the past generation—5 percent of the country's forest cover was lost between 1990 and 2005. Primary forest cover also fell by 5 percent over the same period and now cover around 700,000 hectares. Deforestation rates have decreased slightly since the end of the 1990s.
Kenya is world famous for its safari wildlife, and 12.3 percent of its land area is currently under some form of protection. The country has 1,103 species of birds, 261 mammals, 407 reptiles, 76 amphibians, and 6,500 species of plants.
The most immediate threats to Kenya's forests are subsistence activities and agricultural expansion. In recent years conflicts between forest squatters and police have escalated as the government tries to crack down on deforestation. In 2005, the government evicted 10,000-50,000 families from the edge of the Mau Forest in the Rift Valley as part of its campaign to protect the country's natural resources.
Recent articles | Kenya news updates | XML
Elephant poachers kill unarmed wildlife ranger in Kenya
(01/16/2012) Abdullahi Mohammed, an wildlife ranger, was killed in the line of duty in Kenya this weekend by elephant poachers. A ranger with the conservation organization Wildlife Works, Mohammed was shot by poachers in Wildlife Works Kasigau Corridor project, a REDD program (Reduced Emissions From Deforestation and Degradation).
Bycatch-reducing fish trap wins $20,000
(01/11/2012) An innovative fish trap that allows small non-target fish to escape won a new content by RARE Conservation and National Geographic to fund solutions to overfishing. Developed through studies in Curaçao and Kenya with the Wildlife Conservation Society, the trap has gaps for juvenile fish to swim out of reportedly reducing bycatch by 80 percent. The entry won a $20,000 grant.
Eco-toilets help save hippos and birds in Kenya
(01/04/2012) It may appear unintuitive that special toilets could benefit hippos and other wetland species, but the Center for Rural Empowerment and the Environment (CREE) has proven the unique benefits of new toilets in the Dunga Wetlands on Lake Victoria's Kenyan side. By building ecologically-sanitary (eco-san) toilets, CREE has managed to alleviate some of the conflict that has cropped up between hippos and humans for space.
Featured video: conservation challenges in Kenya
(10/12/2011) Paula Kahumbu, National Geographic Emerging Explorer and Executive Director of WildlifeDirect, speaks on the problems facing conservation in Kenya including poverty, human-wildlife conflict, and development.
Kenya should embrace living with nature as the model for a healthier, wealthier nation
(09/27/2011) Hundreds of thousands of Kenyans are supporting government efforts to enact progressive new policies through its Vision 2030 initiative as it promises to lift us out of a depressed economy and to take us onto a path to becoming a prosperous developed nation. For this to occur, development must be sustainable —but for now what the people want and need most is for the basic necessities for life to be assured like adequate water, sanitation, energy, health, education, homes, and jobs. It is unfortunate that some of our leaders are mistaken in believing that this means Kenya should look like USA or Europe with concrete cities and mega highways, speed trains, and artificial gardens—it will all be at the cost of our spectacular natural environment and wildlife heritage. Kenya hardly has any natural resources, what we have is wilderness and wildlife. For Kenya to stand apart, she must aspire to safeguard the environment and protect forests and wildlife as a central means of to attaining this sustainable development goal.
Nobel laureate and Green Belt Movement founder Wangari Maathai dead at 71
(09/26/2011) Kenyan environmentalist and Nobel laureate Wangari Maathai died Sunday after a battle with ovarian cancer. She was 71.
Famine in Africa: Can Reforestation Improve Food Security?
(09/14/2011) Millions of people across the Horn of Africa are suffering under a crippling regional drought and tens of thousands have died during the accompanying famine. Refuge camps in Somalia, Kenya, and Ethiopia are swelling with the hungry.
Photos: World Food Program works to save lives in East Africa famine
(08/28/2011) Over 12 million people across East Africa are imperiled by a hunger crisis brought on by extreme drought. The worst of the crisis is in Somalia, where famine has been declared in 5 areas of Somalia to date—the first famine to be declared by the UN in three decades. Somalia is unique, because here the drought has been exacerbated by a long-failed government and militants. Refugee camps have been set up in Kenya and Ethiopia, but are strained. A number of aid groups are working on the ground to provide emergency food and medical attention to hunger victims, but funding is still below what is needed. The largest group is probably the UN's World Food Program (WFP). Mongabay.com spoke to Dena Gubaitis, Communications Officer for the WFP, for background on the famine and how relief efforts are going on the ground.
Famine spreads: 29,000 young children perish
(08/04/2011) As the UN announces that famine has spread in Somalia to three additional regions (making five in total now), the US has put the first number to the amount of children under 5 who have so far perished from starvation in the last 90 days: 29,000. Nearly half of the total population of Somalia is currently in need of emergency food assistance. Yet, the al Qaeda-linked group al-Shabaab, which controls parts of Somalia, has made bringing assistance to many of the malnourished incredibly difficult, if not impossible. The famine in Somalia has been brought-on by lack of governance combined with crippling droughts throughout East Africa, which some experts have linked to climate change. High food prices worldwide and a lagging response by the international community and donors have made matters only worse.
Animal picture of the day: portrait of a cheetah
(08/03/2011) Capable of hitting speeds up to 75 miles per hour, the cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) is the world's fastest land animal.
A message to poachers: Kenya burns elephant ivory stockpile
(07/21/2011) Yesterday the president of Kenya, Mwai Kibaki, sent a fiery signal to illegal wildlife traffickers worldwide. Kibaki lit up five tons of elephant ivory, worth $16 million on the black market, to show the continent's resolve to undercut illegal poaching. This was the second time Kenya has set fire to millions of dollars worth of ivory.
Tens of thousands starving to death in East Africa
(07/20/2011) As the US media is focused like a laser on theatric debt talks and the UK media is agog at the heinous Rupert Murdoch scandal, millions of people are undergoing a starvation crisis in East Africa. The UN has upgraded the disaster—driven by high food prices, conflict, and prolonged drought linked by some to climate change—to famine in parts of Somalia today. Mark Bowden, UN humanitarian coordinator for Somalia, has said that tens of thousands Somalis have died from malnutrition recently, "the majority of whom were children."
Richard Leakey: 'selfish' critics choose wrong fight in Serengeti road
(07/02/2011) The controversial Serengeti road is going ahead, but with conditions. According to the Tanzanian Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism, Ezekiel Maige, the road will not be paved and it will be run by the Tanzanian park authority who will have the power to monitor traffic to 'ensure no harm comes to the wildlife population'. Critics argue that even an unpaved road would eventually cripple the largest land migration in the world. However, famed Kenyan conservationist, ex-politician, and anthropologist, Richard Leakey, told mongabay.com that critics of the road are focusing on the wrong fight while failing to respect Tanzania's right to develop. Leakey says that instead of attempting to stop the road from being built, which he believes is inevitable, critics should instead focus on funding a truly wildlife-friendly road.
Worst drought in 60 years brings starvation fears to East Africa
(06/30/2011) A prolonged drought in East Africa is bringing many of the region's impoverished to their knees: the World Food Program (WFP) is warning that 10 million people in the region are facing severe shortages. While not dubbed a famine yet, experts say it could become one. Meanwhile, a recent study by FEWS NET/USGS has revealed that the current drought is the worst in 11 of 15 East African regions since 1950-51. Worsening droughts are one of the predictions for the region as the world grows warmer.
How do we save Africa's forests?
(06/19/2011) Africa's forests are fast diminishing to the detriment of climate, biodiversity, and millions of people of dependent on forest resources for their well-being. But is the full conservation of Africa's forests necessary to mitigate global climate change and ensure environmental stability in Africa? A new report by The Forest Philanthropy Action Network (FPAN), a non-profit that provides research-based advice on funding forest conservation, argues that only the full conservation of African forests will successfully protect carbon stocks in Africa.
Fight for flamingos: Tanzania to mine in world's most important flamingo breeding ground
(05/09/2011) It's not easy to find a single word to describe witnessing hundreds of thousands of flamingos filling up a shallow lake in the Great Rift Valley of East Africa. 'Spectacle' comes to mind, but even this is not wholly accurate for the surreal pink crowd. However one describes it, this biological wonder may be under threat as Tanzania plans to mine in a flamingo breeding ground that is not only regionally important, but globally. Astoundingly, over half of the world's lesser flamingos (between 65-75%) are born in a single lake in northern Tanzania: Lake Natron.
A new rhino species?
(04/11/2011) Using genetic data and re-assessing physical evidence, scientists write that they have uncovered a new species of rhino, long considered by biologists as merely a subspecies. Researchers write in an open access PLoS ONE paper published last year that evidence has shown the northern white rhino is in fact a distinct species from the more commonly known—and far more common—southern white rhino. If the scientific community accepts the paper's argument it could impact northern white rhino conservation, as the species would overnight become the world's most endangered rhino species with likely less than ten surviving.
New organization seeks to make biofuels sustainable, but is it possible?
(03/24/2011) Not too long ago policy-makers, scientists, and environmentalists saw biofuels as a significant tool to provide sustainable energy to the world. However, as it became clear that biofuels were not only connected to deforestation, pollution, and greenhouse gas emissions (sometimes exceeding fossil fuels), but also competed with the global food supply and water sources, biofuels no longer seemed like a silver bullet, but a new problem facing the environment and the poor. Still, biofuels have persisted not so much due to perceived environmental benefits, but to entrenched interests by the big agricultural industry, lobbyists, and governments. However, the Roundtable on Sustainable Biofuels (RSB) hopes to begin certifying environmentally friendly biofuels that don't compete with food production or water sources.
PUMA goes carbon neutral by protecting lions in Kenya
(03/23/2011) PUMA, the sporting goods brand, and its parent company PPR will offset their 2010 carbon dioxide emissions by purchasing carbon credits generated through conservation of wildlife habitat in Kenya.
First International Serengeti Day hopes to halt road project
(02/23/2011) On March 19th the conservation organization, Serengeti Watch, is planning the world's first International Serengeti Day to celebrate one of the world's most treasured wildlife ecosystems. But the day also has another goal: bring attention to a Tanzanian government plan to build a road that would essentially cut the ecosystem, threatening the world's largest mammal migration. "The proposed road will be a major commercial route that cuts across a narrow stretch of the Park near the border with Kenya. It goes through a wilderness zone critical to the annual migration of 1.3 million wildebeest and 0.7 million zebras, antelope, and other wildlife. This will involve extracting a strip of land from the Park itself, resulting in both the fragmentation of the ecosystem and the removal of the Serengeti National Park from the list of UN World Heritage Sites," said David Blanton, co-founder of Serengeti Watch, in an interview with mongabay.com.
Leaked government study: road will damage Serengeti wildlife, despite president's assurances
(02/10/2011) Tanzania's President, Jakaya Kikwete, today gave promises that his proposed road project, which will bisect the Serengeti plains, would not hurt one of the world's most famed parks and one of its last great land migrations. "The Serengeti is a jewel of our nation as well as for the international community. […] We will do nothing to hurt the Serengeti and we would like the international community to know this," Kikwete said in a statement reported by the AFP. However, a government environment impact study, leaked to the conservation organization Serengeti Watch, paints a very different picture of how the road will damage the Serengeti. The report includes warnings that the road will 'limit' the migration of the plains' 1.5 million wildebeest and 500,000 other herbivores including zebra.
First validated REDD forest carbon credits issued
(02/09/2011) A conservation project in Kenya has become the first to win validation for REDD credits under the Voluntary Carbon Standard.
From Cambodia to California: the world's top 10 most threatened forests
(02/02/2011) Growing populations, expanding agriculture, commodities such as palm oil and paper, logging, urban sprawl, mining, and other human impacts have pushed many of the world's great forests to the brink. Yet scientists, environmentalists, and even some policymakers increasingly warn that forests are worth more standing than felled. They argue that by safeguarding vulnerable biodiversity, sequestering carbon, controlling erosion, and providing fresh water, forests provide services to humanity, not to mention the unquantifiable importance of having wild places in an increasingly human-modified world. Still, the decline of the world's forests continues: the FAO estimating that around 10 million hectares of tropical forest are lost every year. Of course, some of these forests are more imperiled than others, and a new analysis by Conservation International (CI) has catalogued the world's 10 most threatened forests.
Can entrepreneurial insights save the Masai Mara?
(01/23/2011) At the epicenter of East Africa’s Great Migration, the Masai Mara of Southern Kenya hosts one of the world's great wildlife spectacles, as herds of over two million wildebeest, zebra, and gazelle congregate in search of fresh grazing brought by the annual rains. Yet, even here in one of the world's great wild places, modern man casts a long shadow, and the Mara Ecosystem is degenerating under the pressures of uncontrolled tourism, divisive local politics, and the burgeoning population growth of the local Maasai people. Working to reverse what seems to many conservationists a hopeless trend for the area, a champion of the Masai Mara has emerged in AJ Patel, founder of the Hasla Mara Wildlife Conservation Foundation. Building a career as a successful entrepreneur and civic leader in San Francisco Bay Area's Silicon Valley, AJ now focuses his considerable business experience and skills for the cause of global wildlife conservation
Lion poisonings decimating vultures in Kenya
(01/19/2011) It's a common image of the African savanna: vultures flocking to a carcass on the great plains. However, a new study has found that vulture populations are plummeting in Kenya's Masai Mara National Reserve, a part of the Serengeti plains, due to habitat loss as well as the illegal killing of lions. Increasingly farmers and livestock owners have targeted lions and other big predators by poisoning livestock carcasses with toxic pesticides, such as Furadan. Not only illegal, such poisonings take their toll on other Serengeti wildlife, including vultures that perish after feeding on the laced carcasses.
Suggested reading - Books
Unless otherwise specified, this article was written by Rhett A. Butler [Bibliographic citation for this page]
Other resources
Contact me if you have suggestions on other rainforest-related environmental sites and resources for this country.
Image copyright Google Earth, MDA EarthSet, DigitalGlobe 2005
CIA-World Factbook Profile
FAO-Forestry Profile
World Resources Institute
Last updated: 4 Feb 2006
|
|
