Governance Structure
Governance bodies, technical working groups, decision making and data governance.
Governance Bodies
| Body | Main responsibilities |
|---|---|
| Ministry of Environment, Climate Change and Forestry: State Department for Forestry | Issues the Data Sharing Protocol under its national coordination mandate for forest monitoring, climate reporting and REDD+; Provides policy direction; Approves the Protocol (Principal Secretary) and oversees its national implementation. |
| National REDD+ Advisory Board / Steering Committee | Strategic oversight; endorses key protocols and policies; Ensures alignment with national priorities; Resolves high-level implementation issues and gives final arbitration of disputes; Approves amendments to the Protocol; reviews the annual implementation status report. |
| REDD+ Coordination Unit | Coordinates implementation and inter-agency collaboration; Oversees the three Technical Working Groups; Monitors compliance and reports on implementation progress; Receives disputes the Working Groups cannot resolve; oversees access to restricted data. |
| Forest Monitoring and MRV Working Group | Primary technical reviewer of submitted datasets; Checks completeness, accuracy and conformity to the FIP standards; Validates technical standards and recommends approval or rejection. |
| Policy and REDD+ Strategy Implementation Working Group | Advises on policy compliance of datasets and products; Supports implementation of the National REDD+ Strategy; Like all Working Groups: reviews datasets, recommends approval or rejection, identifies technical improvements. |
| Safeguards Information System, Communication and Stakeholder Engagement Working Group | Ensures metadata compliance before a dataset is endorsed; Advises on safeguards; Communication and stakeholder engagement. |
| NFMS/FIP Secretariat at Kenya Forest Service | Administers the NFMS/FIP platform and manages user access; Coordinates data submission, storage, publication and system maintenance; gives technical support; Uploads approved datasets to the live platform; Monitors implementation of the Protocol and leads capacity development. |
| Kenya Forest Service | Hosts the platform: data custodian and lead implementing agency; Custodian of hosted datasets without taking ownership of them; Implements security safeguards and coordinates recovery after incidents. |
| REDD+ implementing and participating institutions | Generate, validate, document and submit datasets with the required metadata; Designate a Data Steward; Maintain data quality and give timely updates; Remain responsible for the accuracy, legality and integrity of what they submit. |
| Authorised data users | Use datasets only for approved purposes, respecting access conditions, attribution and the law. |
The tasks of each party in the monitoring and data management functions are to be formalised through institutional arrangements, to ensure the long-term sustainability and accountability of the system.
- NFMS secretariat: to be established in the Kenya Forest Service to oversee the implementation and operation of the NFMS.
- Technical working group: reviewed and improved the NFMS document, with members from KFS, KWS, NMK, universities, UNDP and RCMRD.
- Ministry of Environment and Forestry: leads monitoring of policies and measures and of REDD+ and A/R CDM projects.
Source: Ministry of Environment and Forestry, National Forest Monitoring System in the Republic of Kenya, Version 1 (Draft), February 2021. Chapter 7 and Acknowledgements.
Source: Draft NFMS-FIP Governance Structure, Kenya Forest Service (2026); Draft NFMS/FIP Data Sharing Protocol, version 1.0, Kenya Forest Service and State Department for Forestry (July 2026).