The forests are simultaneously being restored and depleted, protected and commercialised expanded and extracted from, often at the same time.
Kenya's forest cover is frozen at 5.23M hectares (8.83%) since 2021: extraction and encroachment offset each plantation gain, with 2025 timber sales hitting 709,100 m³. A signal for ESG and carbon-offset teams: static headline metrics can mask structural governance failure, not equilibrium.
By
Kimani Mwangi
Nation Media Group
For the fourth consecutive year, Kenya’s total forest area remains fixed at 5.23 million hectares.
The 2026 Economic Survey shows that the figure has not moved since 2021, leaving forest cover locked at 8.83 percent of national land. That remains below the internationally recommended minimum threshold of 10 percent, a target Kenya has repeatedly committed itself to achieving but continues to fall short.
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