Concerns over the impact of logging on the environment and climate change,
Kenya’s President William Ruto has lifted a ban on logging imposed six years ago.
The president said that the move was overdue citing the need to create jobs and open up sectors in the economy that depend on forest products.
But speaking on in Molo in the Rift Valley region, Mr Ruto defended the lifting of the ban, saying the moratorium on logging had been “foolish.
Noting that trees were decaying in the forest while people were struggling to get timber, considered an act of foolishness he said.
He said that government had imposed taxes on anyone importing timber and furniture in the recent budget “because they want all that to be made by the Kenyan people.
The ban on logging has affected some areas where many people depended on logging as the source of their livelihoods.
The lifting of the ban comes as the government pushes on with its plan to plant 15 billion trees over 10 years to increase the country’s tree cover.
