{"id":58151,"date":"2025-06-30T15:47:19","date_gmt":"2025-06-30T15:47:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/africa\/?p=58151"},"modified":"2025-06-30T15:47:23","modified_gmt":"2025-06-30T15:47:23","slug":"no-we-cannot-cut-down-trees-for-concrete-forests-must-stand-in-a-growing-nairobi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/africa\/en\/blog\/58151\/no-we-cannot-cut-down-trees-for-concrete-forests-must-stand-in-a-growing-nairobi\/","title":{"rendered":"No, we cannot cut down trees for concrete. Forests must stand in a growing Nairobi."},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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In any developing world, people construct in forests, people do whatever they can do. You can\u2019t say, \u2018I\u2019m keeping this tree here\u2019 when development is taking place. The population of Nairobi is growing.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

\u2014 Francis Atwoli, June 2025<\/p>\n\n

This statement by Central Organization of Trade Unions (COTU) Secretary-General Francis Atwoli, defending his proposal to scrap Nairobi National Park for urban expansion, captures a dangerous mindset. One that sees forests as obstacles, not lifelines. One that mistakes reckless development for progress. And one that completely ignores the climate reality we are living in.<\/p>\n\n

Let\u2019s be clear: the idea that cutting down forests is an acceptable cost of urbanization is not just outdated, it\u2019s destructive.<\/p>\n\n

Atwoli\u2019s reasoning is not new. It echoes the post-colonial development mindset that built cities by clearing wetlands, paving over rivers, and uprooting indigenous trees. We are now paying the price for that thinking: floods in Mathare, choking air in Pipeline, and water scarcity in Lang\u2019ata are not coincidences. They\u2019re symptoms of environmental mismanagement.<\/p>\n\n

To argue that \u201cpeople construct in forests\u201d is to ignore the science and lived experience that show how urban forests and green spaces are essential to climate resilience, public health, and economic well-being.<\/p>\n\n

In fact, any leader serious about Nairobi\u2019s future must be asking: how do we protect the little green we still have?<\/p>\n\n

We\u2019re not talking hypotheticals. The assault on nature in Nairobi is already happening.<\/p>\n\n

Karura Forest <\/strong>has faced repeated encroachment under the guise of road expansion and forest \u201crestoration\u201d. Conservationists have had to fight tooth and nail to keep developers and state-backed interests out of its indigenous thickets.<\/p>\n\n

Ngong Road Forest<\/strong>, once a haven for joggers and schoolchildren, now contends with fenced-off hotels and \u2018eco-lodges\u2019 justified with dubious environmental assessments and backdoor approvals.<\/p>\n\n

And now Nairobi National Park<\/strong> is in the crosshairs, our only capital city national park, a sanctuary of wildlife, open skies, and clean air. Atwoli\u2019s suggestion that it be cleared for buildings is not only unconstitutional, it\u2019s ecologically suicidal.<\/p>\n\n

Let\u2019s dismantle a myth: trees aren\u2019t just taking up space. Urban forests like Karura, Ngong Road, and the National Park regulate temperature, prevent floods, filter the air, and offer crucial refuge in a city of concrete and chaos.<\/p>\n\n

They are also spiritual and emotional sanctuaries. For many Nairobians, a walk in Karura or a sunrise over Nairobi Park is one of the last accessible forms of peace in an increasingly noisy, chaotic city.<\/p>\n\n

Removing forests to solve urban population growth is like breaking windows to cool a house.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

This is not just about trees. It\u2019s about legacy. It was right here in Nairobi that Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Wangari Maathai led bold, peaceful resistance to protect green spaces from short-sighted development. She put her body on the line for Karura Forest and Uhuru Park, forests that some of today\u2019s leaders now treat as disposable. Maathai understood that environmental protection was inseparable from justice, dignity, and democracy. Her vision gave us the legal tools, civic courage, and international recognition that still protect our ecosystems today. If we now treat forests as expendable, we are not only betraying our environment, we are betraying her memory.<\/p>\n\n

Real cities of the future are not cutting forests. They are growing them. Singapore, Kigali, Bogot\u00e1, and even parts of Addis Ababa are weaving green into their development plans. Nairobi should be leading Africa in urban greening, not rolling it back.<\/p>\n\n

We don\u2019t need to build in forests. We need to build up, not out, using vertical infrastructure in already-developed zones. Invest in proper spatial planning and satellite towns. Protect and restore green spaces, not treat them as \u201cidle land.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

What Atwoli and others fail to realize is this: every forest lost takes us a step closer to uninhabitable cities. It\u2019s not just about trees. It\u2019s about:<\/p>\n\n