Ten Years (2009-2019) of Participatory Forest Management in Kenya's Karura Forest Reserve with the Kenya Forest Service.
Kenyaâs 2005 Forests Act made visionary provision for the establishment of Community Forest Associations (CFA) for eachforest in Kenya. In 2009, inspired by NobelLaureate Wangari Maathaiâs campaign to rescue Karura and indeed all the nationâs forests from greed-driven development, a group of the Karura Forest Reserve neighbouring stakeholders joined forces to establish and launch the Friends of Karura CFA (FKF). Since then, with unprecedented support from local corporations and communities and under the aegis of Kenya Forest Service (KFS) two five-year Strategic Plans, FKF and KFS have worked together within the terms of a carefully negotiated Joint Management Agreement for Karura. The results speak for themselves: in a decade, Karura has revived from a place to be avoided to one of the places in Nairobi to be visited. This report highlights the progress made over the last ten years.
