{"id":54360,"date":"2023-09-26T10:22:18","date_gmt":"2023-09-26T10:22:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/africa\/?p=54360"},"modified":"2025-08-25T12:52:04","modified_gmt":"2025-08-25T12:52:04","slug":"hands-off-our-forests","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/africa\/en\/blog\/54360\/hands-off-our-forests\/","title":{"rendered":"Hands Off Our Forests"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Hands off our forests! Is the famous call by Tracy Makheti<\/a> who has been bold enough to challenge President William Ruto on his decision to lift the 2018 logging ban in our forests. She strongly believes that our community and public forests are hotspots for ecosystem diversity and ecological wealth that should be conserved and preserved.<\/p>\n\n

Based on that belief and conviction, Tracy started an online climate advocacy campaign dubbed #HandsOffOurForests<\/a> via VUMA, a free online campaigning platform – 10,000+ people across Africa signed the petition pledging their support.<\/p>\n\n

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Tracy Makheti holding a banner during the Hummingbird event, raising awareness on the importance of fully reinstating the ban on logging in public and community forests in Kenya<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

There are three essential things that individual citizens, the government and non-state actors must consider for ensuring that our forests are safe and thriving:<\/p>\n\n

Reinstate logging ban <\/strong>– the courts, especially the environmental court, should constitutionally restore the logging ban that has been effective since 2018. That way, sawmillers and illegal loggers will be stopped from entering the forests,thus keeping our forest safe and intact. <\/p>\n\n

Forest regeneration <\/strong>– here, Tracy says that our natural forests must not be interfered with but left to naturally replenish themselves so that they can support fauna life, renew the soil biodiversity, and clean the polluted air by absorbing carbon dioxide. Notably, Kenya has 5 types of very diversified rich forest ecosystems: Montane rainforests, Savannah woodlands, Dry forests, Coastal forests, and Mangrove forests.<\/p>\n\n

Use sustainable renewable construction materials <\/strong>– Instead of using forest timber, we should adopt a combination of traditional and modern construction techniques such as bamboo products, stones, sand, sun-dried bricks and glasses, etc. <\/p>\n\n

Tracy challenges citizens to be critical thinkers in order to come up with sustainable solutions in construction, especially with the Kenyan government\u2019s ambitious plan to build over 100,000 houses per year is underway – in the process, we will be protecting and saving our forest ecosystems from destruction.   <\/p>\n\n

With courage and hope, Tracy continues to advance her stand on the need and urgency of protecting Kenya\u2019s forests. Without fear, she still tells the government and those who support the lifting of the ban, especially sawmillers and illegal loggers, to keep their hands off our forests\u2019 heritage and implement sustainable alternatives that already exist. Almost 40,000 people across Africa<\/strong><\/a> have since joined the fight against forest degradation in Kenya, here\u2019s your chance to add your voice and be on the right side of history.<\/p>\n\n

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SAVE KENYA\u2019S FORESTS<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n

Saving our forests is saving ourselves and our future generations!<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n

Ben Nju\u00eer\u00ee<\/strong><\/a>
Community Mobiliser, Planet One-Ubunifu Hub
Nairobi, Kenya.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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