Who gains from saving nature
Ledger 1 : 33 — For each dollar financing nature-based solutions in 2023, about $33 financed activities harmful to nature. (UNEP)
Cases / Tree planting · Kenya · 1977–2023

Green Belt Movement and Karura Forest, Kenya

Nature's voice · report
Between 1994 and 1999, 477 hectares of my public forest at Karura were allocated to 64 private developers.
Did nature suffer? Yes. Harm is on record. Disputed
Recorded
  • In 2014 an anti-corruption commission found that all of that land had been illegally sold. Mongabay
  • In the Mau Forest I lost 19% of my tree cover between 2001 and 2022, 533 km². The loss fell in 2021–22 and rose in 2023. Mongabay
People
  • 4 people were injured.
    Maathai and three women seriously injured when police dispersed the hunger strike.
What the record lacks: 1 none on record · 4 insufficient · 1 not measured · 2 disputed · 3 unclear See the gaps
Accounts of the harm differ
How much tree cover has the Mau Forest lost?
  • Researchers Global Forest Watch (via Mongabay): Tree cover loss of 19% in 2001–2022; loss fell in 2021–22 and rose in 2023. Mongabay
  • Government and regulators Kenya Forest Service: Satellite images do not reflect the situation on the ground. Kenyans.co.ke
  • Government and regulators National Forest Status Report 2024: Estimates 84,716 ha of deforestation and 14,934 ha of degradation per year nationally.
How much of Kenya is forest?
  • Government and regulators Kenya Forest Service, 2021 assessment: Forest cover 8.83%; tree cover (counting trees outside official forests) 12.13%. The constitutional 10% target is tied to tree cover.
  • Government and regulators President Uhuru Kenyatta, speech of 1 June 2022: Said forest cover rose from 6.99% in 2013 to 8.83% in 2022.
  • Press and investigations A fact-checking site: Found the claim wrong: 6.99% was 2010 data, and another official report gave 5.60% for 2013.
  • Government and regulators Isaac Kalua, then chair of Kenya's Water Towers agency (opinion article): A 7.1% figure was corrected to 7.2% without explanation, and institutions were under pressure to meet the 10% pledge.

A tree-planting movement founded in Kenya in 1977 campaigned against land grabs in public forests. The record shows 477 hectares of Karura Forest allocated to 64 developers in 1994–1999 and continuing tree-cover loss in the Mau Forest.

477 ha / 64 developersPublic forest at Karura allocated to private developers, 1994–1999
As recorded by Mongabay (2015); the whole area was later found to have been illegally sold.

Status As of the latest dated records (2023–2026): the July 2023 lifting of the logging ban was nullified by a court in October 2023; no count of the 13 November 2023 plantings found; government targets 30% tree cover and 15 billion trees by 2032.

What?
A tree-planting movement and its founder campaigned against allocation of public forest land; Karura Forest land was allocated to developers and Mau Forest cover declined. Mongabay
Where?
Karura Forest and Uhuru Park, Nairobi; Mau Forest, Kenya. Mongabay
When?
Movement founded 1977; allocations 1994–1999; commission finding 2014; Mau loss 2001–2022; logging ban lifted and nullified 2023. Mongabay
Who?
Gained
  • 64 private developers — Received 477 ha of Karura public forest in 1994–1999; the land was later found to have been illegally sold via intermediaries linked to ruling circles. Mongabay
  • Two Rivers project (owner Centum) — Took about 40 ha of the forest in 2015; the record links Centum to former President Kibaki. Mongabay
  • York Holdings — 7.4 ha. Mongabay
Lost
  • Wangari Maathai and volunteers — Arrested in 1992; injured in 1992; beaten at Karura in 1999. Mongabay
Harmed
  • Karura Forest — 477 ha of public forest allocated to private developers. Mongabay
  • Mau Forest — 19% of tree cover lost in 2001–2022. Mongabay
Why?
The record does not give a stated reason for the allocations; it records the commission's finding that the land was sold illegally via intermediaries linked to ruling circles. Mongabay
How?
Public forest land was allocated to 64 private developers in 1994–1999 and then sold through intermediaries; Moi banned further allocations in August 1999. Mongabay
6 of 6 questions answered from the record

What happened

The record, in order.

The Green Belt Movement was founded in Kenya in 1977 and is said to have planted more than 51 million trees there; this figure is the movement's own claim, and no independent count or survival rate was found. The record says women were paid a small fee for each seedling that survived. Its founder, Wangari Maathai, received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004.

In 1989 the ruling party planned a 60-storey tower in Uhuru Park, Nairobi. The plan was abandoned in February 1990. In January 1992 Maathai was arrested. In late February 1992 she joined mothers of political prisoners in a hunger strike in Uhuru Park; police dispersed it, and Maathai and three women were seriously injured. President Daniel arap Moi called her a crazy woman. Amnesty International is reported to have said the women were beaten until they lost consciousness; the Amnesty reports themselves could not be checked.

On 8 January 1999, while Maathai and others planted trees in Karura Forest, hired men beat them and the police did not intervene, according to Mongabay's account. In August 1999 Moi banned the allocation of land from the forest. By then 477 hectares of public forest had been allocated to 64 private developers in 1994–1999. In 2014 an anti-corruption commission found that all of this land had been illegally sold through intermediaries linked to ruling circles. In 2015 the Two Rivers project took about 40 hectares of the forest, and York Holdings 7.4 hectares.

In July 2023 President William Ruto lifted a logging ban dating from 2018; a court nullified that decision in October 2023. On 13 November 2023 the government declared a national tree-planting day with a target of 100 million seedlings; no record of the number actually planted was found. Government targets stand at 30% tree cover and 15 billion trees by 2032.

The Mau Forest lost 19% of its tree cover (533 km²) between 2001 and 2022, according to Global Forest Watch data reported by Mongabay; the loss fell in 2021–22 and rose in 2023. The Kenya Forest Service said that satellite images do not reflect the situation on the ground.

  1. 1977Green Belt Movement founded
  2. 1989Ruling party plans a 60-storey tower in Uhuru Park
  3. 1990Tower plan abandoned (February)
  4. 1992Maathai arrested (January); hunger strike in Uhuru Park dispersed by police, Maathai and three women seriously injured (late February)
  5. 1994477 ha of Karura public forest allocated to 64 private developers over 1994–1999
  6. 1999Maathai and others beaten while planting at Karura (8 January); Moi bans allocation of forest land (August)
  7. 2004Maathai receives the Nobel Peace Prize
  8. 2014Anti-corruption commission finds the Karura land was illegally sold via intermediaries linked to ruling circles
  9. 2015Two Rivers project takes about 40 ha of the forest; York Holdings 7.4 ha
  10. 2023Logging ban lifted (July), nullified by a court (October); national tree-planting day with 100 million seedling target (13 November)

What was said

Claims, in the words of those who made them.

Where accounts differ

Each party's account, side by side, with its source. The record does not settle these points; it shows them.

How much tree cover has the Mau Forest lost?
Researchers
Global Forest Watch (via Mongabay)

Tree cover loss of 19% in 2001–2022; loss fell in 2021–22 and rose in 2023.

Mongabay
Government and regulators
Kenya Forest Service

Satellite images do not reflect the situation on the ground.

Kenyans.co.ke
Government and regulators
National Forest Status Report 2024

Estimates 84,716 ha of deforestation and 14,934 ha of degradation per year nationally.

How much of Kenya is forest?
Government and regulators
Kenya Forest Service, 2021 assessment

Forest cover 8.83%; tree cover (counting trees outside official forests) 12.13%. The constitutional 10% target is tied to tree cover.

Government and regulators
President Uhuru Kenyatta, speech of 1 June 2022

Said forest cover rose from 6.99% in 2013 to 8.83% in 2022.

Press and investigations
A fact-checking site

Found the claim wrong: 6.99% was 2010 data, and another official report gave 5.60% for 2013.

Government and regulators
Isaac Kalua, then chair of Kenya's Water Towers agency (opinion article)

A 7.1% figure was corrected to 7.2% without explanation, and institutions were under pressure to meet the 10% pledge.

How it looked

What was shown, beside what was recorded.

Shown

  • The movement planted more than 51 million trees in Kenya.
    The Green Belt Movement's own claim, as given in a Goldman Prize blog · Goldman Environmental Prize
  • A national tree-planting day on 13 November 2023 with a target of 100 million seedlings in one day.
    Government of Kenya
  • Targets of 30% tree cover and 15 billion trees by 2032; more than 900 million planting notifications reported by February 2026.
    Government of Kenya

Recorded

  • 1994–1999: 477 ha of public forest at Karura allocated to 64 private developers; in 2014 an anti-corruption commission found the whole area had been illegally sold via intermediaries linked to ruling circles.
    Mongabay
  • 2015: Two Rivers project took about 40 ha of the forest; York Holdings 7.4 ha.
    Mongabay
  • 8 January 1999: Maathai and others beaten by hired men while planting at Karura; the police did not intervene.
    Mongabay
  • Mau Forest tree cover loss of 19% (533 km²) in 2001–2022.
    Mongabay
  • No independent count of the movement's trees or their survival rate was found.
  • No count of seedlings planted on 13 November 2023 was found.

Who gained

Money that reached nature, beside money that stayed elsewhere.

Reached nature or the ground

Not published
No figure published.

Gained elsewhere

Not totalled
Currency: · Window: . All figures cover the same period. * Estimate built from cited figures.

Responses on record

  • kenya-forest-service (2024-11): Said that satellite images of tree-cover loss in the Mau Forest do not reflect the situation on the ground. · Kenyans.co.ke

In court and with insurers

Every proceeding and every insurer decision on record.

Lawsuits and rulings

  1. 2014Outcome not on record
    Anti-corruption commission finding on the Karura forest land
    Anti-corruption commission (as described in the record) · Administrative · Commission → Not stated

    In 2014 an anti-corruption commission found that all 477 hectares of Karura forest land allocated to 64 developers in 1994–1999 had been illegally sold via intermediaries linked to ruling circles. The record gives no remedy. Mongabay

  2. 2023-10Outcome not on record
    Challenge to the 2023 lifting of the logging ban
    A Kenyan court (not named in the record) · Administrative · Not stated → Government of Kenya

    President Ruto lifted a logging ban dating from 2018 in July 2023; a court nullified the decision in October 2023.

Insurers

No insurer decision on record.

What nature saw

Outcomes measured on the ground, and nature's note.

Nature's report opens this page. Below: further outcomes measured on the ground.

Karura Forest allocated to private developers
477 ha
64 developers, 1994–1999; whole area later found illegally sold (Mongabay, 2015)
Mau Forest tree cover lost, 2001–2022
19%
533 km²; fell in 2021–22, rose in 2023 (Mongabay, 2023)
Trees planted by the movement
Unverified
51 million is the movement's own claim; no independent count or survival rate found

What we don't know

Undisclosed, unproven, untried: recorded as data.
Court ruling exists

Nature

  • Disputed How much tree cover has the Mau Forest lost?
  • Disputed How much of Kenya is forest?

Court

  • Unclear Anti-corruption commission finding on the Karura forest land: outcome not on record.
  • Unclear Challenge to the 2023 lifting of the logging ban: outcome not on record.

Figures

  • Insufficient Trees planted: The Green Belt Movement's own claim; no independent count or survival rate found.

Record

  • Insufficient Reported but not independently verified: the movement has planted more than 51 million trees; no independent count or survival rate was found.
  • Insufficient Reported but not independently verified: Amnesty International said the women beaten in Uhuru Park in 1992 were beaten until they lost consciousness (Amnesty's 1992 and 1999 reports could not be checked).
  • None on record The number of seedlings planted on 13 November 2023 is not recorded.
  • Unclear How many carbon credits were actually sold under the World Bank carbon-credit agreement with the Green Belt Movement is unknown; the agreement allowed sales of up to 375,000 tonnes of CO2 equivalent over 2006–2017.
  • Insufficient National forest cover figures vary with definition: 8.83% forest and 12.13% tree cover in the Kenya Forest Service 2021 assessment; a lower figure of about 6.7% attributed to the FAO is reported but not verified.
  • Not measured No independent ecological evaluation of the Green Belt Movement's planting was found.

Did the harm stop?

Moi banned forest-land allocations in August 1999, after the 1994–1999 allocations of 477 ha. Tree-cover loss in the Mau Forest was recorded through 2022 and rose again in 2023.

Who paid?

Maathai and other volunteers were arrested, injured or beaten in 1992 and 1999 according to the record; the public forest estate lost 477 ha at Karura.

Sources

Voices on record: — Company or project— Government and regulators— Courts✓ Press and investigations✓ Communities and civil society— Researchers

Press and investigations

Communities and civil society

Connected cases

Related matters, and cases linked to this one through the same organisations, with the role each played in both.
Terms used on this page

Science and environment

Hectare (ha)
A unit of area equal to 10,000 square metres, about 2.5 acres. 100 hectares make one square kilometre.

Carbon and conservation finance

Carbon credit
A certificate representing one tonne of carbon dioxide (or equivalent) that a project says it reduced, avoided or removed. Buyers use credits to balance their own emissions in climate claims.

Bonds and banking

Arranger
The bank that structures and sells a bond or loan deal, usually for a fee.

Law and courts

Land titling
Formal legal recognition of ownership of land.
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