By: Titus Wamae Institute for Law & Environmental Governance (ILEG) Relevance of Gaps in Forest Legal Framework to Corruption in REDD+

 Article 42, Article 69  Article 69(b) - the state shall achieve and maintain a tree cover of at least 10% of the land area of Kenya.  Article 70&71 - provide for enforcement of environmental rights and agreements relating to natural resource respectively.

 Forest categories – Government gazetted forests, local authority forests and private forests.  Land categories - public, community and private land  CoK defines public land to include government forests, and water catchment areas (held by national government)  Gazetted forests fall under public land while trust land forests fall under community land which in some cases comprise local authority forests, under the Forest Act,  In order to ensure effective forest governance, all these tenure regimes, including customary tenure need legal protection.

 Land Act focuses mainly on public and private land - does not recognize and give treatment to the importance of REDD+ and conservation of forests.  Trust Act details an elaborate procedure to be followed in case the government or the county council wants to set apart any part of Trust land for public purposes. However records show that this procedure has routinely been disregarded. County councils in many cases disposed of trust land irregularly and illegally.

 Devolution - The forestry sector is to be managed by the county government (CoK)  The national government will also exercise competence over national forest, and agriculture policy, while county governments undertake implementation, making them responsible for community and on-farm forests.  It will be necessary to determine the specific responsibilities of the national and county governments, because each level of government exercises distinct authority over different categories of forests, and water resources.

 The NLC Act makes provision for conversion of land from one category to another. Public land may be converted to private land by alienation. The conversion of public land to private land requires approval by the National Assembly or county assembly.

 Potential for tensions between different institutions for instance WRUAs and CFAs may be a hinderance to the implementation of REDD+ activities. Water Act and Forests Act – CFAs and WUAs, yet functions are fairly similar

Continuing legal reforms  Legislation on land is paramount to the implementation of any REDD+ activities.  comprehensive investment law where REDD+ implementation is anchored on.  The Community Land Law should include provisions on protection of carbon rights and allowing customary right holders of land to engage in REDD+ processes more effectively.

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