ABSTRACT
Total forest cover in Kenya is low. The total area under forest in Kenya is 3,456,000 ha, representing 5.9 percent of the total land area (NEMA, 2011). Of this, just 1,406,000 ha, or 1.7 percent of total land cover, is closed canopy forest (NEMA, 2011). Yet, though forests in Kenya account for only a small percentage of the land cover, they contain a large proportion of biodiversity. Approximately 40 percent of Kenya’s large mammals, 30 percent of the bird species, 35 percent of butterfly species and an unknown but high percentage of woody plants are found in forest habitats (KFMP, 1994). Many of Kenya’s forests are in reserves that were originally designed to exclude local people, causing resentment. Such is the case in Mount Kenya Forest, where the nearby Kikuyu were originally excluded from any collection of resources (Little and Brokensha, 1987). Yet here and elsewhere throughout rural Kenya, people continue to be highly dependent on forests for provision of wood and non-wood products. In spite of the important role that forests play in the livelihoods of forest-adjacent people and the nation as a whole, and despite efforts to protect forests through the use of designated protected reserves, loss of forest through deforestation and degradation has con tinued to take place at a high rate. According to FAO (2011) estimates, Kenya lost 12,000 ha of forests between 2000 and 2010, representing 0.3 percent of total forest cover.
