This archive report was first published on 22 November 2021.
Published on November 22, 2021, the Maasai Mau forest in Kenya has faced a new challenge in conservation. Following the successful eviction of illegal settlers in the water catchment area, hundreds of donkeys have been blamed for uprooting young seedlings, frustrating efforts to restore the forest cover.
Local environmentalists, led by Narok County Natural Resources Network Chairman Nicholas Murero, are calling on the government to ban donkeys from entering the gazetted forest. They regret that the tree planting exercise was an investment and sacrifice that should be protected.
Early this year, the county security team allowed locals to harvest grass within the forest under the “cut and carry” program. The forest was vacated by over 35,000 illegal settlers on November 1, 2019, and since then, the government has planted over two million tree seedlings in the over 40,000-hectare-rehabilitated area.
