Campaign against Move by Members of Parliament to Weaken Kenya’s

Forest Protection Law

The East African Wild Life Society (EAWLS) is appealing to all its members and well-wishers to support an advocacy campaign against the proposed change to the Kenya’s Forest Conservation and Management Law.

Several members of the Kenyan parliament have introduced an amendment Bill that proposes the repeal of a section of the Forest Conservation and Management Act that guards against arbitary clearing of forests and irregular allocation of forestland.

The Kenya Forest Service (KFS), a state agency, is the only entity mandated to conserve, protect, develop and manage public forests in the country.

As per the law, no boundary alteration or forestland allocation can be approved where the changes are likely to threaten endangered and rare species and where such alterations would prejudice the function of a forest as a water catchment area. The law mandates KFS to review and make technical recommendations on any petition seeking to vary or move the determined boundary of any public forest before such an appeal is debated and approved or rejected by parliament.

Repealing the said section of law would make it easy to alter and degazette sections of forests, opening the floodgates for actions that would lead to deforestation. Anyone would be able to petition parliament seeking alteration of forest boundaries without reference to KFS.

In an effort to ensure that the Forest Conservation and Management Act is not diluted, a coalition of 31 organisations led by East African Wild Life Society (EAWLS) and Kenya Forest Working Group (KFWG) has been championing a campaign to ensure that the forest protection law is UPHELD in its current form.

Advocacy initiatives include media campaigns, petitions to parliament, building the capacity of stakeholders to lobby against the proposed amendment Bill, as well as fostering grassroots movements in an effort to ensure that the Bill is WITHDRAWN from the House. These campaign activities require resources if we are to succeed. We have lined up more advocacy activities to strengthen our campaign against the proposed repeal of a crucial section of the forest protection law. Please support us through donations as we fight to ensure that our forests are not destroyed. Every coin donated will go towards this campaign to ensure a win for forests in Kenya.

Thank you.

You can donate through: Mpesa: Pay Bill Number: 502300 Account: Forest Bill Paypal: https://eawildlife.org/paypaldonation/ M-Changa: https://www.changa.co.ke/fundraiser/53115

Bank Transfer:

ACCOUNT NAME BANK BRANCH SWIFT CODE BANK/BRANCH CODE BANK ADDRESS PLACE

ACCOUNT CURRENCY EURO GBP USD KSH

EAST AFRICAN WILD LIFE SOCIETY STANBIC BANK (KENYA) LIMITED WAIYAKI WAY SBICKENX 31004 P.O Box 30113-00100 GPO NAIROBI, KENYA LION PLACE,WESTLANDS-NAIROBI

ACCOUNT NUMBER 0100000430708 0100000424689 0100000450116 0100000509315

4 | APRIL - JUNE 2022