Satellite Land Monitoring System (SLMS)
National forest cover, forest types, land cover and the satellite data and methods behind them.
Forest Type
Forest types in 2021, by county
- 49,909 ha
- 41,162 ha
- 24,319 ha
- 15,357 ha
- 11,400 ha
- 8,724 ha
- 14,986 ha
- 12,082 ha
- 9,192 ha
- 8,892 ha
- 7,378 ha
- 7,294 ha
- 4,174 ha
- 3,298 ha
- 2,727 ha
- 2,421 ha
- 1,514 ha
Use the county split with care: mangroves total only 14,134 ha here, while Kenya's mangrove assessments report about 61,000 ha, so most mangroves seem to be counted as natural forest; plantation areas also look misplaced in some counties (for example 7 ha in Nakuru). The forest total in this table (5,178,154 ha) differs from the official 2021 forest cover (5,226,192 ha).
Forest strata used for MRV
Forest cover is mapped in four strata, the three ecological strata divided by canopy cover. Forests in the forest register carry the same strata.
| Forest stratum (first level) | Canopy classes (second level) |
|---|---|
| Montane & western rain forests & bamboo | Dense (≥65%), Moderate (40–65%), Open (15–40%) |
| Mangroves & coastal forests | Dense (≥65%), Moderate (40–65%), Open (15–40%) |
| Dryland forests | Dense (≥65%), Moderate (40–65%), Open (15–40%) |
| Plantation forest land | Plantation forest managed by KFS (not divided by canopy cover) |
Source: Ministry of Environment and Forestry, National Forest Monitoring System in the Republic of Kenya, Version 1 (Draft), February 2021. Chapter 3.2.
Source: 2021 National Forest Resources Assessment, Kenya Forest Service (WorldView very high-resolution imagery).