Karura Forest is an urban forest in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya. It is the second largest urban forest in the world after the Tijuca Forest in Rio de Janeiro located in Brazil. The forest was gazetted in 1932UNEP: Kenya, Atlas of our changing environment – Chapter 5 Page 158 and is managed by the Kenya Forest ServiceKenya Forest Service: Securing Karura Forests in conjunction with the Friends of Karura Forest Community Forest Association.
Karura Forest is consisting of three parts separated by Limuru and Kiambu roads. The large middle portion is ca. ; the Sigiria salient to the west is ca. . The portion to the east of Kiambu road has been allocated to special national priorities. As of mid-2016, 36% of the forest contains indigenous upland forest tree species. The forest is home to some 200 species of bird as well as suni, Harveys Duiker, bushbucks, bush pigs, genets, civets, honey badgers, bush babies, porcupines, Syke's monkeys, bush squirrels, hares, fruit bats, and various reptiles and butterflies. Karura now has over 50 km of trails for visitors to walk, run or bike.
Due to its proximity to a growing city, there have been plans to reduce the forest in favour of housing and other development. However, these plans have been controversial with conservationists. In the late 1990s there were housing projects that would have excised portions of the forest. Conservationists, led by Wangari Maathai, the leader of Green Belt Movement who later became a Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, carried out a much publicised campaign for saving the forest. Karura Forest became also a symbol against controversial land grabbings in Kenya.BBC News, 16 August 2010: Unprecedented move
Geography
Karura Forest has an area of 1 063.0 ha, making it largest of three main gazetted forests in Nairobi. The others are Ngong Forest and Oloolua Forest. The centrally located Nairobi Arboretum is much smaller.
Karura Forest is located north of central Nairobi and is bordered by the suburbs of Muthaiga, Gigiri, Runda, Ridgeways, Mathare North, Peponi and New Muthaiga. The western part of the forest is also known as Sigiria Forest.RW Moss: Nairobi AZ Map. African Books Collective, 1999.
The area north of central Nairobi forms a drainage basin and was once heavily forested, but exists today only as patches like Karura Forest and City Park.Donald B. Freeman: A city of farmers: informal urban agriculture in the open spaces of Nairobi, Kenya. McGill-Queen's Press – MQUP, 1991 The forest is cut by Thigirie, Getathuru, Rui Ruaka and Karura Rivers, all tributaries of Nairobi River.
There are a waterfall, bamboo forest, marshland, Mau Mau caves and an old church in the forest.Daily Nation, Lifestyle Magazine, 23 May 2009: Family trail opens at Karura
The United Nations Office at Nairobi and UNEP headquarters are located adjacent to the forest. The Karura Forest Product Research Centre is also located there.Kenya Forestry Research Institute: Karura Regional Research Center main page
Ecology
Wildlife in the forest include monkey species (including recently re-introduced Colobus Monkeys), bush baby, bushbuck, bush pig, porcupine, duiker, genet, dik dik, African civet and East African epauletted fruit bat.
Plant species typical to the forest include Olea europaea (var. africana), Croton megalocarpus, Warburgia ugandensis, Brachyleana huillensis and the Uvaridendron anisatum.
Development projects and environmental issues
Parts of the forest were degazetted by Minister of Environment Jeremiah Nyagah in 1989.Daily Nation, 5 March 2003: 'No' to proposed Karura hotel Between 1994 and 1998 a total of 564.14 hectares of the forest were secretly allocated to 64 different companies for housing projects.Liz Wily & Sue Mbaya: Land, people, and forests in eastern and southern Africa at the beginning of the 21st century: the impact of land relations on the role of communities in forest future. IUCN, 2001. Around 1995 there were plans to build a housing estate in the forest, but opposition by local residents led to temporary shelving of the plans.Daily Nation, 23 September 1998: Killing forests inhibits growth
The projects revitalised again in September 1998, when the Forest Department was issued a quit notice by private developers.Daily Nation, 17 January 1999: How the storm has gradually built up over allocation of Karura plots The clearing of the forest started igniting fierce protests by environmentalists and others concerned. On 7 October 1998 the construction site was invaded by demonstrators, including 12 opposition MP's. The protest turned violent and bulldozers and other machinery used to clear the forest was destroyed worth more than 80 million Ksh ($2 US million).Landscape conservation law: present trends and perspectives in international and comparative law : proceedings of a colloquium commemorating the 50th anniversary of IUCN, The World Conservation Union, 30 October 1998, Palais du Luxembourg, Paris. IUCN, 2000.
Minister for Lands and Settlements Noah Katana Ngala released a list of companies who had been allocated land in Karura Forest in November 1998. However, the records of those companies were not found at Registrar General's office, making it difficult to trace the individuals behind these companies.Daily Nation, 17 November 1998: Keep off Karura Forest, architects told
On 8 January 1999 when a group of women led by Wangari Maathai were holding a demonstration by planting trees near the forest, a large group of security guards attacked them. Several of them were injured, including Maathai who was taken to Nairobi Hospital.Daily Nation, 9 January 1999: MPs, Maathai beaten at forest The police were reluctant to investigate the incident. However, the Attorney-General Amos Wako apologised to Maathai and promised an inquiry on the incident.BBC News, 20 January 1999: Kenya promises inquiry into environmentalist beating
The Time Magazine, in support of Maathai, named her a Hero of the Week in 1998.Time.com: WANGARI MAATHAI, HERO OF THE WEEK DECEMBER 28, 1998 – Her Women's Army Defies an Iron Regime Klaus Töpfer, the executive director of UNEP, warned that the organisation may move its headquarters out of Kenya if the forest faces destruction. The UN Secretary General Kofi Annan also condemned the attack on Maathai.Chima Jacob Korieh: Gendering global transformations: gender, culture, race, and identity. Taylor & Francis, 2009. Architectural Association of Kenya asked in November 1998 Kenyan architects not to be involved with any design that would threaten the forest
Kenyan President Daniel arap Moi criticised the protesters and asked the Church not to involve itself with the saga.Daily Nation, 9 February 1999: Moi warns Church to keep off Karua issue Minister for Natural Resources Francis Lotodo defended the projects in January 1999 stating that Nairobi as a growing city needed space for development. Professor R. A. Obudho of University of Nairobi, who specialises in urbanisation, also supported the projectsDaily Nation, 5 February 1999: Allow Karura allottees to develop plots – don
University of Nairobi students held several demonstrations for preservation the forest. On 20 January 1999 several students were injured when they clashed with police. The University of Nairobi was closed temporarily following the protests, and all students were ordered to leave the campus.Daily Nation, 2 February 1999: Nairobi University closed after fresh riots Opposition MP's James Orengo (Ford-Kenya), David Mwenje (DP) and Njehu Gatabaki (SDP) were charged in court for attending student protests.Daily Nation, 3 February 1999: Three MPs charged with inciting Karura riots
Eventually housing plans were taken down in lack of public support, but land allocations still stood in place.
In 2003 the NARC government led by Mwai Kibaki replaced the long-standing Moi-led KANU-government. In 2003 the Minister of Environment Newton Kulundu denied the American investor Raymond Chisholm a permit to construct a hotel in the forest. Learning that the new government would revoke dubious KANU-era land allocations, developers started to relinquish their properties in the forestDaily Nation, 10 March 2003: More give up Karura Forest plots
The new Kenya Forests Act in 2005http://formin.finland.fi/public/download.aspx?ID=15959&GUID=%7B88EFD0B8-9F47-4528-A24F-66DDE0CFE370%7D made it more difficult to degazette forests in Kenya, thus protecting Karura Forest as wellDaily Nation, Lifestyle Magazine, 23 October 2010: Good news from Karura
There was a project by Kenya Forest Service, UNEP and Red Cross Kenya in 2008 to cut down eucalyptus and blue gum trees in parts of the forest and plant indigenous species in their place. Green Belt Movement was doubtful with the project, fearing that logging of the forest could actually lead to private developers invading the forestDaily Nation, 7 October 2010: Fears as Karura Forest cleared
In 2009 it was reported that part of the forest had been allocated to the National Environmental Management Authority (NEMA). This plan was also opposed by Wangari Maathai and the Green Belt Movement, who stated that the NEMA should be protecting, not destructing the forest.Daily Nation, 12 July 2009: Open letter to James Orengo (by Wangari Maathai)
The Nairobi Northern Bypass road, constructed in 2009, passes through a wetland that contributes to one of the five Karura Forest water courses, thus posing a threat to the forest.Daily Nation, 8 February 2009: Bypass construction starts without approval from environmental body
Karura Forest had a reputation as dangerous spot. Muggings, robbery and violence were common. At one point, said Kenya Forest Service (KFS) Head of the Nairobi Conservancy, Charity Munyasia, they were discovering one dead body there per fortnight, on average.Kenya Museum Society – Karura Forest Rejuvenated . 24 August 2011 With efforts that began in 2009 to fence the forest and restore safety, Karura has become a popular walking, cycling, and jogging destination for Nairobi residents, and increasingly also for tourists.
The new Kenya Forests Act (2005) also provided for the establishment of Community Forest Associations (CFA). In 2009 an initiative was thus formed under the name 'Friends of Karura Forest Community Forest Association'.The Star Newspaper: From Killers' Dumping Site To Great Nature Trail, The Amazing Story Of Karura Forest Recognising the growing threats to Karura from uncontrolled development the neighbouring Muthaiga and Gigiri Residents Associations begin discussions in early 2009 to form a Community Forest Association for Karura. A letter of intent circulated to northern Nairobi neighbourhoods residents, heads of agencies and VIPs under joint signature of KFS and the Muthaiga Residents' Association (MRA). A stakeholders' Working Committee was formed to steer the process, and, in order to raise awareness, it organised a media event in the form of the opening of Karura's 'Family Trail' on 16 May 2009 with the Hon. Noah Wekesa, Minister for Forestry and Wildlife, presiding. Hundreds of stakeholders participated in walking the length of the trail. On 25 May 2009 KFS wrote a letter to the Registrar of Societies expressing No Objection to the registration of the new CFA. Between April and July 2009 FKF-CFA office-bearers completed the required vetting processes with the Criminal Investigation Division and Registrar of Societies. The FKF-KFS joint management plans were drafted by the Working Committee. On 1 October 2009 the Registrar of Societies signed the Certificate of Registration for the Friends of Karura Community Forest Association. At the First FKF Annual General Meeting on 21 April 2010 Alice Macaire became FKF's first elected chairperson.