Download declaration in support of the Misitu Pia Campaign

The Misitu Pia Campaign: National Alliance for forests in the 2007 elections and Beyond

Who we are
We are a non-partisan National Alliance of organizations, institutions and individuals who have come together to promote awareness of and commitment to critical forest issues in the run-up to the 2007 general elections, and to ensure elected leaders are accountable to these commitments thereafter.

Kenyans Concerned about Forests
Kenyans are concerned about forests because forests are important to us. The values of forests include:

• Water. Forests catch, store and release water. This maintains a steady water supply, reducing floods and the effects of drought. Forests enhance favourable rain patterns.
• Energy. Forests provide fuelwood. Water from forests flows to hydro-electric power plants, producing 70% of Kenya’s electricity.
• Soil conservation and fertility. Trees enrich the soil and protect it from erosion.
• Air quality and other environmental services. Forests assist in air purification and reduce global warming. Forests also help moderate local climates, favouring agricultural production.
• Timber and non-timber products. Forest trees produce wood and poles. Non-timber forest products include medicinal plants, gums, resins, fibres, fruits, seeds, fodder and honey.
• Biodiversity. In Kenya, 50% of tree, shrub and woody vine species are found in forests.  And 40% of large or medium-sized mammal species, 35% of butterflies and 30% of bird species live in forests. (Yet forests are less than 2% of the land area!)
• Tourism, recreation and sacred places. Forests are cool, shady, pleasant places to visit.  Many forests are sacred places to local communities.
• Employment. Activities in forests provide employment directly to forestry employees and to neighbouring communities. Forests provide services to other sectors – agriculture, tourism, water and energy – thus indirectly supporting employment in these sectors.
• Genetic resources. Forests are known for the unique species which live in their ecosystems. This is a genetic resource of unknown value that could advance medicine, food production and materials development.
• Education and Research. Forests provide opportunities for education and research.

Why Forests and Why now?

Forests provide the people and country of Kenya with valuable goods and vital services. Yet each year there is less forest cover in the country. This loss has been attributed to the long history of poor governance and management in the forest sector. However, the misuse or disregard of existing legislation by politicians and officials has arguably been a bigger contributing factor to forest loss. The root cause of that has been a lack of accountability for sustainable forest management by those in power.

Currently Kenya has 1.7% of its land area covered by closed forests, compared to the global forest cover average of 21.4%, and an average for Africa of 9.3%. Yet, forests form the foundation of the country’s economy. Forest loss has direct impact on water, power, agriculture, tourism and all other sectors. Most water serving Kenyans comes from rivers. All major rivers derive their water from forests. For example, experts say that Kenya cannot afford the consequences of interfering with the Mau Forest ecosystem as its hydrological regulative function has major economic value for Kenya and Tanzania. The power sector relies heavily on forests. The very survival of our agriculture-based economy is intricately linked to the well-being of the forests. We can only sustain the billions of shillings derived from tourism by maintaining a proportion of land as forest. Many of the rivers that support wildlife in conservation areas have their headwaters in forests.

The political parties that formed governments in the recent past did not give the forest sector the attention it deserves. Forests have not been seen as an important issue and deciding factor during elections. In past decades, they were instead used as a tool to reward voters. With the enactment of the Forests Act 2005 and establishment of the Kenya Forest Service (KFS), the civil society and the public at large would like political parties to give forests the needed attention. We would like political parties to commit themselves to a five year forest agenda that will contribute to enhanced conservation of forests for the improved livelihoods of Kenyans.

Campaign Goal
“Political parties mainstream sustainable forest management in their political agenda for the 2007 general elections and beyond”

Key Forest Areas of Concern

We would like firm commitment from the political parties on how they will address the following issues of concern.

1. Forest policy and legislation. Despite enactment of the Forests Act 2005, the policy to guide its implementation still has not been approved by Parliament. The draft Forest Policy contains a range of good social objectives for the forest sector that captures poverty issues, participation, livelihood strategies, gender, HIV, and equity issues. Political parties must:

• Ensure that this policy is approved so that it can shape the implementation of the new Forests Act 2005.
• Assure Kenyans that there will be no interference in the implementation of the new Forests Act 2005.

2. Political will and transparency in the running of the Kenya Forest Service (KFS). Political will, accountability and transparency in the running of the KFS are prerequisites to ensure effective implementation of the new legislation. Political parties should commit themselves to:

• Provide political support for an effective KFS.
• Assure Kenyans that there will be accountability and transparency in the running of KFS.
• Create incentives and motivation to enable KFS run properly and effectively for sustainable forest management.

3. Funding. One of the constraints in forest management, especially for protection and management of forests is the limited capacity and low funding of the institution responsible for forests and the sector itself. Budget allocation to various sectors is dependent on the sectors contribution to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Most of the environmental services and products are not final market commodities thus they do not make it into the “national system of accounting” that determines GDP. Therefore the forest sector is not accorded its true value and commensurate funding. If well funded, staffed and managed, projected revenue from KFS has been estimated by the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) of the implementation of the Forests Act 2005 report1 to rise from Kenya shillings 1.57 billion in 2007-8 to Kenya shillings 4.29 billion in 2014-5. Projected expenditure to enable KFS to deliver is estimated at Kenya shillings 3.5 billion in 2007 and rises to Kenya shillings 3.85 billion in 2008 before falling and stabilizing at around Kenya shillings 3 billion from 2010-11. This shows that KFS could reach a break-even state within four to five years of its establishment. However, major support will be required from the government initially.

The political parties should commit to:

• Factoring the true value of environmental services provided by forests and other natural resources into the national system of accounting.
• Making budgetary allocations to the forestry sector that match its contribution, noting the role played by forestry (often undervalued) in the three pillars of development (social, environment and economy).
• Develop mechanisms for retaining revenues for conservation purposes and for long term financing of forestry operations.

4. Forest boundaries demarcation. Most forest boundaries have not been demarcated on the ground. This has significantly contributed to human and agricultural encroachment in some forest areas. It is the clear demarcation of national parks that has enabled the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) to contain encroachment into national parks. The same can be done for our forests. Political parties should:

• Ensure that boundaries of all forests are clearly marked and respected.

5. Settlement. There are many settlements in our forests today. Historically, forests were hived off to provide settlement for the landless or the poor. But in later years this became an excuse to grab forest land. Towards the end of 2000, the process of illegal settlements accelerated. This was made possible due to collusion by various Government agencies and power barons, and the weakening of Government institutions and land management processes. Many of the settlements have been unwise and occur in critical watersheds, therefore posing a threat to the livelihoods of millions of people. In some cases people have moved into forests in anticipation of being allocated forest land. Political Parties should commit themselves to:

• Completely stop any settlement in forests, wetlands and other endangered habitats such as highland grasslands and seasonal wetlands.
• Taking actions to sort out settlements on forest land.  This might include rationalization of forest boundaries. Address the issue of people living on roadsides and forest edge. This might include purchasing of alternative land for them.

6. Increase forest cover. Noting the low forest cover, political parties should make a deliberate effort to increase forest cover by:

• Putting in place policies and strategies that will result to planting of trees in degraded areas and private land.
• Setting apart a certain percentage of devolved funds, particularly the Constituency Development Funds (CDF) and Local Authority Transfer Funds (LATF) for forest conservation purposes.
• Providing incentives and subsidies for commercial tree planting

On behalf of all Kenyans, the Misitu Pia Campaign urges all political parties to commit to address the above forest issues during and after the 2007 elections.
Pigia misitu kura. Vote for forests.

MISITU PIA! CAMPAIGNP.O. Box 20110-00200, Nairobi – City SquareTel: +254 20 3874145/3871335Mobile: 0726 816000 / 0736 600700Email: info@kenyaforests.org