Kenyan President William Ruto has lifted a logging moratorium that has been in effect since 2018 despite concerns from environmental organisations.
Ruto claimed the decision was “long overdue” and aimed at creating jobs and launching businesses.
According to him “We cannot allow mature trees to rot in forests while locals suffer from a lack of timber.”
The Kenyan president, who has positioned himself at the forefront of African efforts in the fight against climate change, says his government will maintain its goal of planting 15 billion trees over the next ten years.
Greenpeace Africa, however, says the decision “could have devastating consequences for the environment”.
“In Kenya, forests are home to rare and endangered species, and millions of local people depend on these forests for their livelihoods, relying on them for food and medicine,” the organisation wrote last month in a petition against the move.
“Since the Kenyan government imposed the ban on logging six years ago, significant progress has been made in forest protection and with combatting the climate crisis,” it said.
The previous administration imposed the 2018 moratorium in order to combat illegal logging and increase Kenya’s forest cover to 10%.
According to government figures, the country’s forest cover is currently 8.8%, and the forestry and logging industry contributed 1.6% to the Kenyan GDP in 2022.
