Republic of KenyaKenya Forest ServiceKenya NFMS-FIPNational Forest Monitoring System – Forest Information PlatformHealthy Forests • Resilient Ecosystems • People and Nature • Data for Action

GHG Inventory

Emissions, removals, activity data, emission factors and uncertainty.

Activity Data

Activity data are the areas of each land-use change per year, from the SLEEK change matrices (see FREL / FRL › Reference Data).

Area deforested per year by stratum
0400k200kNet 369k2002–2006Net 266k2006–2010Net 383k2010–2014Net 337k2014–2018Average 339k ha/yr
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Net average 2002–2018: 339k ha/yr
Area deforested, ha/yr (Table 8)
Stratum2002–20062006–20102010–20142014–2018Average
Montane & western rain forests104,87472,05972,64876,32281,476
Mangroves & coastal forests50,38827,46352,35956,66446,719
Dryland forests213,787166,164258,443204,279210,668
Total369,049265,686383,450337,265338,863
Area afforested per year by stratum
0600k300kNet 283k2002–2006Net 404k2006–2010Net 308k2010–2014Net 311k2014–2018Average 327k ha/yr
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Net average 2002–2018: 327k ha/yr
Area afforested, ha/yr (Table 8)
Stratum2002–20062006–20102010–20142014–2018Average
Montane & western rain forests63,60584,54777,62167,42673,300
Mangroves & coastal forests34,43549,85545,37444,77743,610
Dryland forests185,027269,992185,429199,089209,884
Total283,067404,394308,424311,292326,794
Area degraded per year (fall in canopy class) by stratum
0100k50kNet 58k2002–2006Net 45k2006–2010Net 50k2010–2014Net 87k2014–2018Average 60k ha/yr
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Net average 2002–2018: 60k ha/yr
Area of forest degradation, ha/yr (Table 9)
Stratum2002–20062006–20102010–20142014–2018Average
Montane & western rain forests29,65516,62219,10820,46121,462
Mangroves & coastal forests9,1687,6345,87422,83011,377
Dryland forests18,68921,01624,57243,31626,898
Total57,51245,27249,55486,60759,736
Area with canopy improvement per year by stratum
0100k50kNet 91k2002–2006Net 72k2006–2010Net 70k2010–2014Net 46k2014–2018Average 70k ha/yr
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Net average 2002–2018: 70k ha/yr
Area of canopy improvement, ha/yr (Table 9)
Stratum2002–20062006–20102010–20142014–2018Average
Montane & western rain forests18,12429,47325,97615,10422,169
Mangroves & coastal forests29,28712,71415,1386,03215,793
Dryland forests43,22029,95529,35324,87831,852
Total90,63172,14270,46746,01469,814
Public plantations: area harvested vs replanted per year
010k5kNet 7k2002–2006Net 7k2006–2010Net 7k2010–2014Net 8k2014–2018
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Forest that remained forest in each epoch, by stratum
04M2MNet 2.2M2002–2006Net 2.2M2006–2010Net 2.3M2010–2014Net 2.2M2014–2018
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Forest land remaining forest land, ha (Table 13)
Stratum2002–20062006–20102010–20142014–2018Average
Montane & western rain forests1,067,6391,033,8231,081,4201,086,6151,067,374
Mangroves & coastal forests347,841375,728365,710320,549352,457
Dryland forests698,714774,168820,364744,965759,553
Public plantations62,29261,18364,38456,31561,044
Total2,176,4862,244,9022,331,8782,208,4442,240,428
Read gross change with care. The annual gross areas are large compared with Kenya's forest area because dryland forest and wooded grassland are often confused in the maps, and the change maps' own accuracy is only 30–52% (Quality & Transparency › Uncertainty Assessment). Net change and the FRL averages are more robust than single-epoch gross figures.
The FRL executive summary gives deforestation as 103,368 ha/yr and reforestation as 90,477 ha/yr, while Table 8 gives 338,863 and 326,794 ha/yr. The portal shows the table values, which are consistent with the change matrices; the difference has been referred to the FRL team.

Activity data in the national GHG inventory (NID 2024)

Kenya used IPCC Approach 2 (consistent representation of lands) with a sample-based method, Ensemble Sample-Based Area Estimation (eSBAE). A 2 km grid over the whole country gave 149,460 points (the grid size was chosen after testing 500 m to 50 km). Machine-learning time-series analysis flagged probable change, and 7,313 points were interpreted visually in Collect Earth Online as deforestation, degradation, no change, enhancement or other transitions.

Data collected for the second FRL for 2000–2005, 2005–2010, 2013–2017 and 2018–2021 were used to build annual land-use change matrices for 25 land sub-categories. Years without data were held constant (1990–1999 as 2000; 2011, 2012 and 2022 as the previous year).

Land-sector data sources (Table 6-1)
CategoryType of dataSource
Land remaining landArea (ha) of each land category that stayed the sameSample-based area estimation from remote sensing
Land converted to another categoryArea (ha) converted from one category to anotherSample-based area estimation from remote sensing
All land categories and conversionsAbove-ground biomassPilot forest inventory; IPCC 2006 defaults for grassland, annual cropland, wetland, settlement and other land; Owate et al. (2018) for perennial cropland
Below-ground biomassRoot-to-shoot ratios, IPCC 2006 Table 4.4
Soil organic carbonIPCC 2006 default values

Source: Ministry of Environment, Climate Change and Forestry, Kenya's Third National Greenhouse Gas Inventory Document 1990–2022, December 2024 (Kenya’s national inventory report to the UNFCCC). Chapters 6.1.1, 6.1.3, 6.2.2 and 6.4.2, Table 6-1.

Source: Ministry of Environment and Forestry, The National Forest Reference Level for REDD+ Implementation, December 2019 (Kenya’s FRL submission to the UNFCCC). Chapters 3.1.6 and 3.1.7, Tables 8–13.

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