Kenya’s Ngong Road Forest won a historic victory yesterday. A protected public forest that was being carved up behind closed doors; its trees cleared, its soil broken, its licences signed in secrecy; has been given back to the people it belongs to. The Environment and Land Court has ruled that every approval granted for the private golf range, luxury restaurant, and mini-golf park inside the Miotoni Block was unlawful from the moment it was issued.
In a judgment delivered on 26 February 2026, in a case brought by the Law Society of Kenya against Karura Golf Range Limited and seven co-respondents – including the Kenya Forest Service (KFS) and the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) – the court declared all approvals invalid, null, and void ab initio. Both the Special Use Licence issued by KFS and the Environmental Impact Assessment clearance issued by NEMA were quashed in their entirety. Regulators were explicitly barred from reinstating or fast-tracking the revoked licences.
Greenpeace Africa welcomes this ruling without reservation. We also note, for the record, that we warned about precisely this situation – by name, in detail – twelve months ago.
What the court found
The judgment was unsparing in its assessment of how the licences were procured. The court found that the EIA process was fatally flawed: it failed entirely to meet statutory requirements on meaningful public participation. As the presiding judge observed, the EIA report did not specify any dates for public meetings or for the distribution of questionnaires. The limited public engagement that did occur did not meet the legal threshold of purposive and meaningful participation.
This was not a technical oversight. Public participation is a constitutional requirement in Kenya – it is the mechanism through which communities most affected by environmental decisions exercise their rights. To bypass it is not to cut a corner; it is to violate the law. The court found exactly that.
The project had already attracted fierce public criticism when it emerged in late 2024 that a private developer had secured access to operate commercially within a protected public forest. Regulators had subsequently suspended the licences pending further ecological and risk assessments, in part due to the project’s alarming proximity to critical pipeline infrastructure. The court’s judgment now permanently settles the matter: the licences were unlawful from inception.
What we documented – and what KFS denied
In our March 2025 press release responding to KFS’s dismissal of mounting forest threats, Greenpeace Africa specifically identified the Sanctuary block of Ngong Road Forest as one of the most acutely endangered forest zones in Kenya. We documented the private tented camp and lodge being developed inside it. We documented the approximately 50 acres already consumed by the Talanta Stadium. We documented illegal dumping of construction waste. We documented a shooting range and restaurants being constructed inside a gazetted forest. We named the early entry permits and private leases. We did so because these were real, verifiable, and ongoing.
KFS responded by characterising these concerns as “misleading information” and insisting Kenya’s forests were safe. Parliament summoned the Environment Cabinet Secretary and Principal Secretary to account for the Ngong Forest licences – and they dodged those summons three times.
Today, a court of law has confirmed that what we documented was accurate, that the process was irregular, that the public was bypassed, and that the law was broken. The ruling establishes a formidable legal precedent, as one account of the judgment noted: Kenya’s ecological reserves are not available for arbitrary commercial exploitation.
A court victory is not enough
We celebrate this ruling. But we are honest about what it reveals: Kenya’s forests should not have to depend on costly, protracted litigation every time a well-connected developer and a complicit regulator decide to carve them up. The legal system is a last resort, not a first line of defence. By the time a court delivers judgment, trees have already been felled, construction waste has already been dumped, and ecosystems have already been disrupted. A court order does not restore a cleared forest overnight.
The government cannot simultaneously pledge to plant 15 billion trees by 2032 and preside over the systematic commercial allocation of the forests that already exist. That contradiction is not merely embarrassing – it is a betrayal of Kenya’s people, Kenya’s climate commitments, and the constitutional right of every Kenyan to a clean and healthy environment.
What must now follow
1. Full ecological restoration: All land within Ngong Road Forest disturbed by this unlawful development must be restored to its natural state, at the developer’s cost, with independent monitoring.
2. Accountability: KFS and NEMA officials who approved unlawful licences, permitted construction before regulatory clearance, and dismissed legitimate public concerns must face disciplinary and legal consequences. Institutional failure with no personal consequences is institutional permission.
3. A comprehensive audit: An independent, publicly published audit of all Special Use Licences and Early Entry Permits issued for commercial activity within Kenya’s gazetted forests – not just Ngong Road Forest – must be conducted without delay.
4. Mandatory enforcement of public participation: The Forest Conservation and Management Act and Kenya’s Constitution already require it. The government must enforce these provisions rigorously before any licence is issued, not as an afterthought conducted under public pressure.
5. Transparent parliamentary accountability: The Environment Cabinet Secretary and Principal Secretary must appear before Parliament to account for the Ngong Forest licences – having already evaded those summons three times. Forest governance cannot be above democratic oversight.
The wider battle: Ngong Road Forest is not alone
This ruling matters beyond Ngong Road Forest. The same pattern of bypass-and-build is playing out across Kenya’s protected green spaces, and the stakes could not be higher.
Karura Forest: 51.64 acres face excision for the Kiambu Road expansion, with Friends of Karura Forest separately petitioning President Ruto this week to halt the alleged construction of National Youth Service housing units inside the same forest – again without public consultation or the knowledge of forest managers.
Aberdare Forest: A 25-kilometre road is planned through a critical water catchment ecosystem, threatening the biodiversity and water security that millions of Kenyans depend upon.
Suam and Mau Forests: Commercial and infrastructural encroachments continue, displacing communities and destroying ecosystems that took generations to build.
The Ngong ruling is a template. These forests need the same community vigilance, civil society pressure, and legal tenacity that won the day in Nairobi’s court on 26 February. The government’s pledge to plant 15 billion trees by 2032 is hollow if it continues to preside over the destruction of the forests already standing.
Our forests are not for sale
You can be part of what comes next. Thousands of Kenyans have already signed our petition demanding an end to reckless forest destruction. If you have not added your voice, do so now at pages.greenpeaceafrica.org/stop-the-attack-on-kenyas-forests-now. Share it. Talk about it. Because the forests that absorb our carbon, hold our water, and cool our cities cannot defend themselves – that is our job.
This ruling is a victory for Kenyans who believe their forests are a public inheritance – not a private opportunity. It is a victory for the Law Society of Kenya, for the Green Belt Movement, for the Ngong Road Forest Community Forest Association, for every environmental defender who was dismissed as an alarmist, and for the thousands of Kenyans who have signed our petition demanding an end to reckless forest destruction.
As we stated when this crisis first broke: “Development should never cost us our natural heritage.” The court agrees. Now Kenya’s government must govern as though it does too.
Greenpeace Africa will continue to monitor, document, and challenge every attempt to sacrifice Kenya’s forests on the altar of private gain. We were right about Ngong Road Forest. We are right about what must come next.
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For media inquiries:
Sherie Gakii, Communications and Storytelling Manager, Greenpeace Africa, [email protected] | +254702776749
