Barely a year after he took office, President William Ruto has lifted the ban Kenya imposed on logging to conserve water six years ago. The reversal, according to Ruto, was motivated by a need to create jobs for young people in the East African country.

"If people will import furniture from foreign countries, we shall tax the items, because we want those furniture items made by young people from the Republic of Kenya, and this is why we have decided to open up the forest and harvest timber so that we can create jobs for our youth," Ruto said.

Ruto also said Kenya would continue with its plan to plant 15 billion trees in 10 years.

Climate activists, however, say the lifting of the ban — which helped raise the country's forest cover by 3% — amounts to a major setback. 

Climate activists push back

 The country's environment cabinet secretary, Soipan Tuya,reiterated Ruto's argument, saying people who have waited since 2018 to harvest trees in commercial forests now have an opportunity. Logging will be controlled and supervised to ensure loggers do not extend their activities beyond the areas marked for commercial logging, the cabinet secretary said.

"The 150,000 hectares are in parts of our gazetted forests, only there will we allow for harvesting of commercial, exotic trees but not in indigenous forests," Tuya said.

Greenpeace Africa activist Tracy Makheti said the government has erred in rushing to allow people to cut trees, given that there are other means to create jobs for youth.

"If the government really wanted to create job opportunities for Kenyans, they would look at opportunities that have a future," Makheti told DW.

"If we cut down our trees when our forest coverage is barely 10% in the next five or six years ... we will come back and start crying [over] the same issue."

Reversal of climate gains 

When the ban on logging was imposed in 2018, Kenya's forest coverage was at about 5.8%.

Last year, the government launched an ambitious plan to plant 15 billion trees. The campaign dubbed #JazaMiti aimed to improve forest coverage beyond the current 8.8%.

A return to logging could send #JazaMiti down the drain, Makheti told DW.

She said drastic measures need to be in place to ensure a 30% tree cover target within 10 years. According to Makheti, the three key steps required to make that happen would be reinstating the ban on logging, focusing on alternatives to timber, and prioritizing forest regeneration. 

An online petition

Ruto, who currently chairs the Committee of African Heads of State and Government on Climate Change, is now under fire for perceived doublespeak on climate justice.

"He has been going round the world telling people how Africans are championing climate justice — the same president [who is] lifting the ban on logging," Makheti told DW.

During the COP27 climate summit in Egypt last year, the Kenyan leader promised world leaders that "carbon credits will be Kenya's next big export.”

On a recent trip to France, Ruto again called for climate justice in Africa. 

 An online petition opposing the logging ban decision has garnered close to 40,000 signatures. The Greenpeace Africa campaign is dubbed "Hands off Kenya's Forests." 

Edited by Benita van Eyssen