Kenya has been substantially engaged in the Country Led Planning (CLP) process with the Global Forest Observations Initiative (GFOI) since 2023. CLP related work in Kenya focuses on supporting national reflection on National Forest Monitoring System (NFMS) institutionalization, strengthening coordination among key agencies, and linking NFMS improvements to emerging priorities such as carbon markets and results based payments.
Kenya has a relatively mature and technically well developed NFMS, anchored primarily within the Kenya Forest Service (KFS) and linked to agriculture, forestry and other land use (AFOLU) reporting under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Core components include national forest inventories, land cover and land use change monitoring, emissions estimation methodologies and forest reference level development.
Kenya’s NFMS benefits from long term investment, extensive technical documentation and strong national capacity in forest inventories, remote sensing and emissions estimation. Institutions such as the Kenya Forest Service (KFS), the Kenya Forestry Research Institute (KEFRI), the Department of Resource Surveys and Remote Sensing, the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) and academia have accumulated substantial experience through initiatives including Improving Capacity in Forest Resources Assessment in Kenya (ICFRA), System for Land Emissions Estimation for Kenya (SLEEK), Improving Measurement for Payments to Reduce Emissions (IMPRESS), and AIM4Forests. Kenya also has an enabling policy framework and active links to international initiatives, positioning it well for climate finance and carbon market engagement.
At the request of the Government of Kenya, the Global Forest Observations Initiative (GFOI) Country-Led Planning (CLP) team conducted a weeklong mission of bilateral meetings and one-day workshop with support from the country office of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nation...
