The government has justified the proposed clearance of roughly three acres in Karura Forest to make way for National Youth Service (NYS) housing and a major tree seedling propagation project.

This comes amid uproar after civil society groups claimed that the forest land had been allocated to private developers to erect housing units, though the Kenya Forest Service (KFS) confirmed that NYS barracks were being developed in the forest.

However, speaking in an interview on a local TV station on Monday, March 9, 2026, Environment Cabinet Secretary Deborah Barasa brushed off claims that the government was clearing parts of the forest for housing developments.

“We are just clearing space to propagate between two million and ten million seedlings for us to green our city and ensure the forest is fully covered,” she stated.

The CS explained that the land clearing is part of the government’s broader plan to produce between two million and 10 million tree seedlings aimed at boosting the country’s forest cover.

According to Barasa, the area being prepared measures between two and three acres and will serve as a seedling propagation site as well as a location for temporary accommodation for NYS officers who will help run the project.

She added that the temporary structures are necessary to support the human resources needed to manage the seedling production effort.

“To achieve the propagation of up to ten million seedlings, we require human resources, and that is why we are putting up temporary homes for NYS officers,” Barasa said.

She added that the initiative forms part of the government’s efforts to increase forest cover in Kenya from 20 per cent to 30 per cent, in line with national environmental conservation goals of 15 billion trees by 2032.

The CS insisted the activities are meant to restore and expand tree cover, not reduce it, noting that the seedlings produced will be used in reforestation efforts across Nairobi and other parts of the country.

KFS had further revealed that the NYS barracks are not just being set up in Karura forest, but in every protected forest cover in the country, stressing that the seedling shortages have long undermined tree-growing efforts in the country, and that NYS is on board to fix that gap once and for all.

But, the ministry maintained that Karura remains fully protected public forest land, and that the construction does not represent any form of land-use change or forest conversion.