Environment, Climate Change and Forestry Cabinet Secretary Soipan Tuya has reiterated that the lifting of the logging ban announced recently by the government only applies to commercial plantations.
Tuya said the ban however does not apply to indigenous forests as misconstrued by a section of Kenyans.
She spoke on Thursday in Marsabit where she commissioned Tiniqo and Horri Gudha wetlands restored by the National Environment Management Authority.
"When you hear about the lifting of the ban on logging, it only applies to commercial plantations which have not been touched since 2018 due to the moratorium," Tuya said.
She said the lifting of the ban imposed by the government in 2018 following a spike in illegal logging was to allow harvesting of mature plantations including those owned by the government.
"We have had a ban on logging since 2018 which was a response to rampant illegal activities and high degradation of our ecosystems," she said.
Tuya said the lifting of the ban will allow private forest owners who had been restricted by the 2018 moratorium to harvest their mature trees.
This, she said, will allow the forest owners to log in a regulated manner.
"The logging ban came with restrictions on private forests where those with forests within their farms could not log but with the lifting of the ban, they will be allowed to log in a regulated manner," the CS said.
She said her ministry is strengthening Kenya Forest Service to effectively undertake its enforcement mandate.
The Cabinet Secretary also said she has instructed KFS to mount a countrywide crackdown on illegal logging starting with the Mau forest complex.
She said the wetlands restoration, fits into her ministry's 15 billion national tree-growing programme and Kenya's broad climate action agenda led by the president.
"President William Ruto is leading from the front in the climate action and that is why we have the first ever Africa Climate Summit happening in September in Nairobi," the CS said.
