Supporting the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)

CBD Secretariat Montreal Canada www.biodiv.org

• Status and Trends of Biodiversity

Overview

Kenya has a large diversity of ecological zones and habitats including lowland and mountain forests, wooded and open grasslands, semi-arid scrubland, dry woodlands, inland aquatic, and coastal and marine ecosystems. In addition, a total of 467 lake and wetland habitats are estimated to cover 2.5% of the territory. In order to preserve the country’s wildlife, about 8% of Kenya’s land area is currently under protection... More »

National Biodiversity Strategy Action Plan

Rich Biodiversity

Kenya has established numerous goals, as well as general and specific objectives that relate to these issues, among others: environmental policies and legislations; involvement of communities; documentation of national biological resources; sustainable management and conservation of biodiversity; fair and equitable sharing of benefits; technical and scientific cooperation; biodiversity assessment; dissemination of information; institutional and community capacity building; and integration of biodiversity concerns into development planning... More »

Implementation of the Convention

Measures Taken to Achieve the 2010 Target

Aside from increasing the coverage of protected areas and establishing new special status sites, Kenya also intends, through its Strategy for Revitalizing Agriculture, to achieve by 2014 comprehensive development of the agricultural sector at all levels for the benefit of the population. On the subject of conservation of species, specific targets and programmes have been established regarding, among others, mangroves, coral reefs, turtles, and black rhinos... More »

Initiatives in Protected Areas

Kenya has expressed its commitment to progressively increase forest cover from the current 2% to 10% of the country under a protected area system (this target is not time bound). There is also a generalized focus to increase the coverage of different biomes under protected areas to include spots not currently covered (including forests, heritage sites, national parks, game reserves, and marine parks and reserves)... More »

Initiatives for Article 8(j)

Kenya has established a network for Medicinal Plants and Traditional Medicine that has been involved in undertaking an assessment of capacity building needs through the formation of associations on traditional medicine practitioners. Moreover, a capacity building programme has been put in place to help the herbalists add value to their products... More »

National focal points