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Imenti Forest in Meru County where the government plans to construct a State Lodge and airstrip. [Couretsy]
Environmental lobby groups have moved to court to challenge the Forest Conservation and Management (Amendment) Act, 2026, warning that its implementation could open Kenya’s protected forests to roads, power lines and other infrastructure projects with irreversible ecological consequences.
The petition, filed by Green Belt Movement and Just Act, seeks to suspend the new law assented to by President William Ruto on May 29, arguing that it was enacted through a flawed legislative process and unlawfully grants the Kenya Forest Service powers to authorise easements and wayleaves through gazetted public forests. They say the law was enacted without adequate public participation.
The petitioners seek interim orders, warning that once roads and utility corridors are permitted in Kenya’s 2.59 million hectares of gazetted public forests, including the Mau Forest Complex, the Aberdares, Mt Kenya, Kakamega, Karura and Ngong Road forests, they will cause irreversible ecological destruction.
