Coming as it does in the wake of a devastating three-year drought, the government's decision is particularly ill-timed. Forests are intricately related to weather patterns, including the all-important rains that Kenya can do little without. More important, the decision by the government to degazette the forests seems to be based on bad policy and short-term objectives, which include the alleged intention of alleviating the country's festering squatter problem. 

However, few Kenyans will buy this argument. Previous excisions made for the selfsame reason have invariably ended up benefiting politicians and well-connected individuals. 

From an environmental standpoint, the government's policy of arbitrarily excising forest land is also contrary to the principle of sustainable use of natural resources. Once excised, ecosystems which took thousands of years to develop are irreparably damaged. Potentially valuable animal and plant species are destroyed, leading to the continued depletion of the country's rich genetic resources. 

The proposed forest excisions thus underscore the risk of extinction that faces the country's natural environment, and the need to put in place practical mechanisms to ensure that this does not happen. 

Kenya's Ministry of Environment says the country's forests cover only two per cent of the total land area, with 88 per cent being classified as indigenous forests, which are specially rich in natural plant and animal species. The ecosystems have, however, dwindled at an alarming rate. 

Between 1991 and 1994, for example, the government degazetted about 6,660 hectares of forest land for human settlement, including the controversial piece hived off from the Karura forest near Nairobi. 

According to the Permanent Presidential Commission on Soil Conservation, between 1995 and 1999, another 44,500 hectares was degazetted, making a total of over 50,000 hectares in less than 10 years. 

Given other wider environmental developments, such as global warming and the increasingly regular occurrence of weather extremes, these losses are worrying in the extreme. Kenya is at the edge of the dry north of Africa, and is in many ways a bulwark against the southward advance of the desert. The loss of its forests will have continental implications.

To avoid this disaster, as the United Nations Development Programme has said, a good starting point would be to streamline the country's tortuous environmental laws. Legal provisions for the protection and management of the natural environment and forests are scattered over at least 77 statutes, making their interpretation and enforcement extremely difficult. 

The sweeping powers to gazette or degazette public land, conferred on the Minister for Environment by the Forests Act, which was first enacted in 1962 and last revised in 1992, present opportunities for abuse or misuse, and need to be reviewed to bring them into line with contemporary social and political realities.