Senator Kathuri wants farmers allowed back into Imenti forest

The government has been urged to review an earlier directive banning Meru residents from planting trees in Imenti forest as they grow crops.

In October, Environment Cabinet Secretary Soipan Tuya’s directive banned all human activities within protected forests effectively kicking out hundreds of residents who were tasked with rehabilitating degraded sections of Imenti forest.

More than 4,000 members of Community Forest Associations (CFA) living around the forest have been involved in reforestation in Imenti forest for the last 10 years.

They have been rehabilitating about 2000 hectares of Imenti forest which has been under invasive Lantana camara shrubs.

But speaking during a meeting with affected residents, Meru Senator Kathuri Murungi said the ministry of environment was in the process of reviewing the directive after assessing the situation.

Senator Kathuri, who is also the Senate deputy speaker, noted that CFA’s operate under the forest conservation and management act hence were duly mandated to protect the forests.

“CFAs are established by law to help in forest conservation. I am aware that an assessment has been done in Imenti forest to see the work you have been doing. I will meet CS Tuya next week to convince her to reverse the directive,” Kathuri said.

He however challenged the farmers to prioritize tree planting over crops farming once they return to the forest.

“I have noted that residents have done a lot of work clearing the invasive bushes and planting trees. If they are not allowed to take care of the trees, they will not grow to maturity. It is therefore a matter of priority for the government to allow CFA members back to the forest if we are to achieve the president’s greening agenda,” he said.

Large swathes of Imenti forest have been under invasive shrubs after destruction in the 1990s. The invasive shrubs are blamed for high cases of human-wildlife conflict as elephants run out of trees to feed from.

To recover the deforested areas, CFAs enter a contract with Kenya Forest Service (KFS) allowing members to grow crops as they plant and tend for trees in forest sections affected by logging and invasive species.

Meru Forest Environmental Conservation and Protection (MEFECAP) CFA secretary Dorothy Naitore, said they have planted more than 900,000 trees in the forest during this rainy season.

Naitore said there was a need to allow people back into the forest to tend the tree seedlings.

“We are ready to ensure more than 75 percent of the trees survive once we are allowed back in the forest. We will use the trees first approach in allocating plots to CFA members,” Naitore said.

She said the residents had spent their resources in clearing swathes of invasive Lantana camara ahead of the short rains.

“The CS was misled to believe that we have been destroying trees yet we are planting trees. Allowing people to grow specific crops is an incentive for them to tend for the trees. If the trees are left after planting, they are destroyed by elephants,” she said.

Lower Imenti forest CFA chairman Joseph Tharimbu said they have been clearing the invasive bushes for the last two years and kicking them out would be detrimental to the government’s conservation efforts.

The rehabilitation of the Imenti forest is supported by conservation groups including Eden reforestation project, Mount Kenya Trust and International Tree Foundation.