State confirms plan to set up NYS camp in troubled Karura Forest

The government plans to establish a National Youth Service (NYS) camp inside Karura Forest, Nairobi, to accommodate personnel expected to help raise tree seedlings under its national tree-growing programme.

However, the Environment and Land Court has halted further site clearing, excavation and installation of accommodation units until the Kenya Forest Service consults its conservation partner and meets applicable environmental requirements.

The proposed camp would occupy about 0.68 acres at the existing Rangers Village, which has 29 houses, with NYS personnel expected to be housed in prefabricated container units, located about one kilometre from the KFS headquarters.

According to court papers, the plan is part of the government's effort to increase seedling production for its 15-billion-tree campaign.

The camp proposal triggered a legal dispute over forest management and consultation. Friends of Karura Community Forest Association, which works with KFS under a forest management agreement, went to court after vegetation was cleared at the old Rangers Village.

The association said the 2021–2026 management plan provided for 29 ranger houses inside the forest to be relocated near KFS headquarters, outside the forest fence. It said it helped fund 26 replacement houses but KFS allocated them to other staff, leaving the old village in place.

The association also said KFS authorised tree and stump removal without consultation. A letter seeking clarification, sent on February 24, 2026, went unanswered. It argued that the planned NYS settlement contradicted the management plan and risked harming the forest.

“The continued clearing and development in the forest threaten irreversible ecological damage, including the loss of indigenous vegetation and wildlife, habitat destruction, and environmental degradation,” said the petitioners.

KFS disputed that account and denied allegations of deforestation with a view to setting up an NYS settlement within the forest.

Chief Conservator of Forests Alex Lemarkoko said the camp was a long-standing facility essential to forest security, surveillance and conservation. “The forest's ecological integrity will not be altered,” he said.

Rangers based inside the forest, he said, could respond to logging, poaching, encroachment and fires, and monitor sensitive habitats.

“All public forests have rangers, villages, or camps established within them for strategic reasons, including rapid responses to threats such as logging, poaching, forest encroachment, and forest fires; continuous surveillance of activities in the forest ecosystem; protection of sensitive ecosystems and fragile habitats,” said the chief conservator.

KFS said the proposed camp would house NYS personnel helping with seedling production at a tree nursery near its headquarters.

The area already had water and electricity, and the container units would cover about 0.68 acres, he said. KFS described the work as remodelling an existing camp, not creating a new settlement, and said it would not damage biodiversity.

Court papers show that the site identified for the nursery expansion is about three acres and is situated within the Tree Biotechnology Trust Programme nursery [an existing set of three nurseries] at KFS headquarters.

“To accommodate additional nursery staff from NYS, a camp has been proposed within the existing Rangers Camp, which comprises 29 houses serving as rangers' residences. This camp dates back to the colonial era, and the justification for accommodating the NYS staff is the availability of essential amenities, such as water and electricity, that serve the camp,” explained the Chief Conservator.

The agency argued that environmental assessment and public participation approvals were unnecessary because the site was an existing camp and the work would not involve tree felling or interference with waterways.

It said moving the ranger village would weaken forest protection and that the relocation proposal had not adequately considered security needs.

A court visit on March 23, 2026, found no construction in progress but recorded limited clearing of shrubs and tree stumps. KFS said the area had been selected for temporary container accommodation for NYS personnel, who would help raise seedlings at a nursery located elsewhere.

In a judgment delivered on October 8, Justice Grace Kemei found that KFS had failed to consult the association before preparing the site. The judge said the management agreement and relevant law required meaningful participation where a proposal affected the jointly managed area.

“Public participation, as one of the value systems ingrained in our Constitution, is a constitutional imperative in the conservation and management of natural resources, including forests,” the judge said. “It is not a discretionary courtesy to be doled out at will.”

The court declared that the Kenya Forest Service’s failure to consult Friends of Karura Community Forest Association before preparing the site for additional NYS accommodation breached the association’s right to fair administrative action.

It also found that KFS had not identified an environmental assessment or NEMA determination supporting its claim that the project was exempt. An assurance that the forest would not be harmed could not replace regulatory compliance.

The court prohibited KFS and anyone acting under its authority from further clearing, excavation, installing accommodation units or expanding the proposed camp until consultation and environmental requirements are fulfilled.

The order does not stop existing ranger occupation, patrols, forest protection, nursery operations or necessary ordinary repairs within the established footprint, provided they comply with the law.

The association had also asked the court to compel relocation of the 29 houses within 24 months, require progress reports and bar all settlements or construction throughout Karura.

The court declined those requests, citing gaps in evidence about approvals, funding, timing, the alternative site and security needs. The court did not find that the existing ranger village was inherently unlawful.

NYS and the Attorney-General did not enter appearance or file responses, according to the judgment. The judgment leaves the proposed camp subject to consultation and environmental compliance.

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