Kenya Forest Services on Tuesday raised an alarm over the future of Eburu forest after it emerged that unscrupulous individuals are engaged in commercial logging and charcoal burning in the forest.
The Kenya Forest Working Group national coordinator, Rudolf Makhanu claimed that the forest faced a threat as people were destroying trees and urged the government to step in and end the habit.
“There are fears that we will not attain the 10 percent forest cover as illegal loggers and charcoal burners have returned to our forests,’’ Makhanu said.
He further noted that the state was more concerned in planting new seedlings as loggers continued to wreak havoc in the forest.
He called on the government to strengthen community forest associations so that they could deal effectively with the illegal loggers.
Eburu forest in Naivasha sub-county is a water catchment area for Lake Naivasha and its destruction may result in drying up of the lake.
When contacted, the Eburu Committee Forest Association chairman, Joseph Kamendo, accused the Kenya Forest Service of failing to work with the community in conserving the forest.
There has been a raging conflict between communities which live near the forests and the Kenya Forest Service (KFS) over the management of forests.
The communities argue that they should be involved in the conservation of forests but the KFA claims that instead of conserving, the communities have contributed a lot to their destruction.
According to environmental conservationists, half of the forest has been cleared and the remaining portion is in great danger of being destroyed.