Proposed forest law changes ignite debate over roads and utilities

The Forest Conservation and Management (Amendment) Bill, 2025 is proposing sweeping legal changes that could significantly reshape how public forests, climate financing and infrastructure development are managed. 

The Bill, which was passed by the National Assembly and the Senate on Thursday, introduces new regulatory powers, tougher penalties, carbon market frameworks and expanded authority for infrastructure access within public forests.

One of the key amendments will, if assented by the President,  allow the Kenya Forest Service to grant easements for public roads and other public installations, as well as wayleaves for public utilities in public forests.

The proposal creates a formal legal pathway for projects such as highways, electricity transmission lines, pipelines and telecommunications infrastructure to pass through public forest land.

The amendment specifies that the provision would apply only to public forests and not private forests.

The Bill also seeks to establish a new Directorate of Forest Regulation headed by a Secretary of Forest Regulation with wide-ranging oversight powers.

The proposed regulator would be responsible for licensing timber graders and certification experts, conducting inspections, enforcing compliance standards, overseeing forest carbon systems and coordinating forest-related regulation across the country.

The changes come as Kenya increasingly positions forests within climate financing and carbon trading frameworks.

The Bill introduces legal provisions on forest carbon management, Payment for Ecosystem Services schemes and carbon-related incentives.

Under the proposed law, the Kenya Forestry Research Institute would also be formally established under the forestry legislation. It will enjoy expanded powers in forest research, biodiversity monitoring, seed systems and climate-related forestry programmes.

The amendments further strengthen penalties for forest-related offences.

Illegal import or export of prohibited forest products would attract fines of up to Sh5 million or imprisonment for up to three years.

Penalties linked to illegal dumping, invasive species and forest degradation would also increase substantially under the proposed law.

The Bill additionally introduces provisions on dryland forestry management, agroforestry systems, nursery certification, forest data systems and mandatory buffer zones in public and community forests.

However, some of the proposed legal changes have triggered sharp opposition from environmental groups and conservation activists.

The Green Belt Movement is among organisations that have strongly criticised the amendment allowing easements and wayleaves inside public forests.

In a statement, the organisation warned that the changes could create a “dangerous legal pathway” for the gradual opening up of forests to roads, utilities and commercial developments through administrative approvals.

“This amendment is not innocent. It is a dangerous legal pathway being created to open up our public forests to roads, infrastructure, utilities, commercial interests and eventual destruction through administrative processes disguised as development,” the movement said.

The group argued that Kenya had already witnessed growing pressure on forests through infrastructure and commercial projects.

It pointed to the 2024 controversy surrounding the proposed excision of 51.64 hectares of Karura Forest for the expansion of Kiambu Road, saying the project was only halted after court intervention and public opposition.

The movement also cited concerns over a proposed road through the Aberdare Forest ecosystem and ongoing developments around Ngong Road Forest.

“This is not a coincidence; it is a pattern where first comes a road, then utilities, then ‘temporary access’ then commercial developments. Slowly, public forests disappear piece by piece until nothing remains,” the organisation said.

The group further warned that the amendment risks weakening constitutional protections on public forests and increasing exposure to environmental degradation at a time when Kenya is already facing climate-related pressures including drought, flooding and water insecurity.