Forest Cover and Tree Cover Maps

Forest and tree cover maps for Kenya and each county, 2010–2021.

Open Forest Cover and Tree Cover Maps

Forest Cover 2021

Open Forest Cover 2021

Latest: 2021 National Forest Resources Assessment

Kenya's forests in 2021 (National Forest Resources Assessment)

8.83%Forest cover 20215,226,192 ha

12.13%Tree cover 20217,180,001 ha: forest plus trees outside forests

10%Constitutional targetTree cover target met nationally; 37 of 47 counties

1,507 m²Tree cover per personPopulation 47,629,296 (2019 census)

Forest by canopy density, 2021

34%

32%

35%

Dense (> 65%): 1,756,715 ha (33.6%)Moderate (40–65%): 1,648,860 ha (31.5%)Open (15–40%): 1,820,617 ha (34.8%)

2021 was mapped from WorldView imagery; all other years from Landsat. The 2021 assessment used WorldView very high-resolution satellite imagery, while 2010–2018 used Landsat (30 m). The finer WorldView images detect small and open forest patches and trees outside forests that Landsat misses, especially in dryland counties. The rise from 5.8% (2018) to 8.83% (2021) therefore mainly reflects the change of imagery and method, not real forest gain: do not read 2018 → 2021 as a trend.

Earlier series (Landsat, SLEEK)

Forest cover and forest cover change for activity data come from the land cover / land use maps of the System for Land-based Emission Estimation in Kenya (SLEEK), recognised as official government information across the land sector.

In 2018, forest covered 3,462,536 ha, 5.8% of Kenya's land area: 2,205,189 ha dense, 816,174 ha moderate and 441,173 ha open forest.

Source: Ministry of Environment and Forestry, National Forest Monitoring System in the Republic of Kenya, Version 1 (Draft), February 2021. Chapter 5.1.1 and Appendix 1.

Source: 2021 National Forest Resources Assessment, Kenya Forest Service (WorldView very high-resolution imagery).