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{
    "id": 818535,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/818535/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 334,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Maara, JP",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Kareke Mbiuki",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 79,
        "legal_name": "Japhet M. Kareke Mbiuki",
        "slug": "japhet-kareke-mbiuki"
    },
    "content": "At the same time, we had an opportunity to meet the Community Forest Association members, who informed the committee of the following: 1. The communities around the forest areas were doing a lot in terms of forest conservation but their efforts were not appreciated. For instance, they signed a contract to prune forest trees but the contract was never honoured by KFS. Instead, the contract was given to casual workers, who never did the work. 2. The PELIS programme had been of help to the communities in terms of food security and improving the livelihoods of the people living near the forests. However, the CFAs got only 30 per cent allocation whereas 70 per cent of the allocation went to people who were not members of the community. They alleged corrupt dealing involving KFS officials for such skewed and opaque allocation. 3. The CFAs were also ignored even after making requests to be involved in the thinning of forests. Instead, the same was given to people who were strangers to the communities and unknown to the CFAs. 4. There was also need for revenue sharing, especially with respect to grazing rights in the forests. The situation then was that the forest guards colluded with grazers and excluded the CFAs, in a potentially opaque and corrupt dealing. The committee also had an opportunity to meet with the CS for Environment and Forestry, Hon. Keriako Tobiko, and he briefed the committee as follows: 1. The Ministry of Environment and Forestry, through KFS, managed a total of 2.5 million hectares that is gazetted. This is in addition to 1.7 million hectares outside the gazetted forests, mainly community and private forests, giving a national total of 4.2 million hectares, which translates to 7.2 per cent of the total land area in Kenya. 2. Basically, we found out that the forest cover in the country stands at around 7.2 per cent, hence the target of the Government to achieve 10 per cent tree cover by 2022. 3. The forests provide food, firewood, water, timber and other forest products and services that are critical to rural and urban households. The role of forests in climate change mitigation and adaption has uniquely gained significance, premised on the understanding that conservation of forests, rehabilitation of degraded areas, afforestation and reforestation activities confer effective climate change mitigation while strengthening community resilience to adapt to changing climate. 4. Public plantation forest areas occupy 135,871 hectares that are distributed in 24 counties across the country. These forests generate over Kshs3 billion annually to the Exchequer in form of revenues and support the development of wood-based industry. 5. One of the key strategies being used in the forest plantation development was the"
}