Makueni Governor Mutula Kilonzo Junior has banned logging which has led to increased fires in the county.
The timber business in the past years has affected forests in Mbooni and Kibwezi.
Mutula affirmed his commitment to ensuring the environment is conserved.
He said cartels were behind the forest fires.
“Cartels who cause fires targeting to get a license to do logging should be warned,” the governor said.
A report issued by Makueni county commissioner Beverly Opwora said the most affected forests are Katende with 285 hectares (704.25 acres), burnt, Kitondo 90 acres and Makuli with 70 among others.
“We are not going to watch a few gluttonous businessmen destroy our environment, any logger will face the law,” Opwara said.
Most villages bordering the forests have been affected following rampant fires that have destroyed trees, and forest cover and driven away animals.
He spoke on Saturday during the burial of Mzee Mainga Kyele Kilonzo, father to Kenya Railways managing director Phillip Mainga at Ngoni village, Mbooni.
He was accompanied by Senator Dan Maanzo, Douglas Mbilu (Makueni speaker), Kyalo Mumo, (Makueni county assembly majority leader), and Kevin Mutuku (county assembly clerk) among other leaders.
Mutula said forests were important because they had experienced a growth in beekeeping among the communities in those areas.
Already, hundreds of residents are doing beekeeping inside the forests.
He urged residents bordering the forests to ensure no form of torching happens within the forests by reporting to the local authorities immediately.
“The temperatures we are experiencing are because of wildfires these are the contributing factors to global warming and climate change,” the governor said.
He said any perpetrator arrested will be firmly dealt with.
In 2017 the Makueni County Assembly Committee on Environment banned logging in Kivale forests after some loggers claimed that they had been licensed by Kenya Forests Service, which they termed an illegal act.
Edited by Kiilu Damaris
