NAIROBI, June 15 (Swara) – Conservationists and environmental activists in Kenya are hailing as a great success their spirited advocacy campaign to defeat efforts by some members of parliament to weaken a law that guards against the destruction of the country’s forests.
The Kenyan parliament was adjourned indefinitely on June 9 ahead of general elections in August. That adjournment meant that the Forest Conservation and Management (Amendment) Bill (2021) that was tabled by the National Assembly’s Procedure and House Rules Committee in January was not debated in parliament and is therefore unlikely to see the legislative light of day unless a member of parliament reintroduces the proposal in future.
The Bill sought to repeal a section of the Forest Conservation and Management Act that guards against the arbitrary clearing of forests and irregular forestland allocation.
The East African Wild Life Society (EAWLS) through the Kenya Forest Working Group (KFWG) led a coalition of 31 organisations that vigorously pushed back against the proposed Amendment Bill through a well-coordinated advocacy campaign.
Partners supporting the advocacy campaign included the International Lawyers Project (ILP), Westminster Foundation of Democracy (WFD) and the World Wildlife Foundation (WWF-Kenya).
EAWLS urged partners and well-wishers who would like to continue supporting its efforts to carry on strengthening its environmental advocacy initiatives to channel their donations through one of the two options below:
Mpesa: Pay Bill Number: 502300 Account: Donation
Paypal: https://eawildlife.org/paypaldonation
