Karura Forest Community Calls for Restoration of Joint Management Agreement

The Friends of Karura Forest (FKF) Community Forest Association is calling for the immediate restoration of the Forest’s 20-year Joint Management Agreement after the Kenya Forest Service (KFS) announced new changes to its management.

On Friday, August 29, KFS declared that it would take over collection of all forest entry payments through the eCitizen platform. The agency also ordered all management staff and scouts employed by FKF to leave the forest by 1 pm that day.

“We are growing increasingly concerned about what will happen to Karura going forwards as there is no clear path for how it is being managed,” said Professor Karanja Njoroge, past chair of FKF and Board Member. “We are also shocked by the entrance fee increase which could stop Kenyans from enjoying one of the largest urban forests in the world.”

Under the new eCitizen payment system, visitors are charged an additional Sh50 platform fee plus 16% VAT on each transaction. This means that after nearly two decades of unchanged rates, the entrance fee for adult Kenyans has risen from Sh100 to Sh174, while the fee for children has more than doubled from Sh50 to Sh116.

Residents confirmed that over the weekend, visitor numbers dropped sharply due to the fee hike and confusion over who is managing the forest. The changes also leave the future of 122 regular staff, including scouts who manned the gates and patrolled the forest, in doubt. In addition, about 400 women from nearby communities who worked as casual support staff risk losing their income.

For years, entrance fees collected under the Joint Management Agreement between KFS and FKF were used to fund security, daily operations, and infrastructure, including maintenance of the electric fence, access roads, and forest regeneration. Since contracts are under FKF’s name, the community association remains liable for many of these obligations.

“We need to urgently get Friends of Karura in again to jointly manage the forest day-to-day operations and work with local communities,” said Professor Njoroge.

“Our Nobel Laureate Wangari Maathai saved this forest for the people of Kenya and then the Friends of Karura and many other dedicated Kenyans helped transform it from a no go zone into the green paradise we see today. We owe it to them and the 70,000 visitors who come every month to make sure the forest is run smoothly and safely for the benefit of all.”