Forest plantations are established to provide wood and the trees should be harvested when they mature and new ones planted. Even in homesteads people plant trees on their farms which they harvest for firewood, poles etc when the trees mature.
People should stop confusing plantations with natural forests. Natural forests are not planted forests and should remain intact since they are important water catchment areas, however in plantations the mature trees should be harvested and availed for construction, building, furniture, wood fuel etc.
We should view trees just like the way we view maize and other crops. When we plant maize, we harvest when it matures for our consumption. Same should happen to trees, we plant and should harvest when the trees mature and use the tree products. We should not be importing timber, paper, toothpicks, matchboxes, tissue paper etc while all these can be made locally using wood from our forests.
Here is a photo showing new trees replacing those that were harvested earlier. Forests are a renewable natural resource.
Also local communities help in replanting the forests after harvest. They are normally allocated 1/2 acre plots to grow crops such as maize, potatoes, beans as they tend to the young trees. After 3 yrs when the trees are big enough and shade the crops the locals move to new areas to help reestablish new forest areas. That system also helps increase food security and also create employment.
Logging is going on in govt forests which are managed by trained foresters and secured by armed forest guards. So your talk of thousands of trees being damaged is just emotional hogwash. How do you expect the licensed saw millers to get the trees without felling thousands of them in the mature plantations? Seems the tree huggers have messed your thinking.
FYI logging is an important renewable resource sector in many parts of the world. You are the same person who always asks why we dont manufacture toothpicks. How do you expect us to manufacture toothpicks when the raw materials (cypress, pine trees) are rotting in the forest due to some logging ban?
Logging in US and canada. Then they export to you printing paper. We can save alot of foreign exchange by utilizing our own trees.
That is why we have forest managers and armed guards to protect the forests. The logging permits issued to saw millers are for specific mature trees in specified areas. If someone fails to comply to the logging permit conditions or fails to enforce the law then they should be prosecuted, not shutting down the whole forest sector. We do not close all roads eti because we fear a few rogue drivers will break traffic rules. Let the offenders be punished.
Why should we be importing printing paper, toilet paper, toothpicks, furniture eti because we fear utilising the trees in our forests will open the forests to abuse? Why are we paying forest managers and forest guards, si hio ni kazi ya KFS?
The ban should be appealed. Unless the court also wants to ban people from harvesting trees in their own farms for use as firewood, building poles etc.
Forest plantations comprise exotic quick maturing softwood tree species such as cypress and pine, eucalyptus. Indigenous hardwoods like mahogany, african olive, meru oak etc are different and occur in natural forests that are in protected conservation areas.
FYI millions of mature trees were rotting in the forests due to the ban. Zilizeeka until they fell over. If each tree is worth 5,000 bob, you can imagine the billions we have lost. Ni kama upande mahindi then you fail to harvest due to a ban and the maize rots in the field.
The only trees being harvested are the exotic plantations, which are very clearly dermacated. Infact due to overgrowth, most of the trees are rotten in the middle and there are sawmillers asking for compensation.
The forest department is very serious when it comes to the indigenous section of the forest. which they treat with same seriousness as wildlife trophies. touch that and you will be sent to Jehova wanyonyi immediately.
FYI there are two types of forests. Shida is that Kenyans dont know this and they think all forests and trees are the same while actually they are very different and serve different purposes.
Natural indigenous forests which are protected and are important conservation and water catchment areas eg aberdares, mt elgon, parts of Mau etc.
Man made plantation forests comprising quick growing exotic trees eg pine, cypress, eucalyptus. These are established to provide wood to the population. The trees should be harvested when they mature which is after about 20-30yrs otherwise the trees start to rot from inside and the wood deteriorates making the trees commercially useless.
ama namna gani my fren