Indicator 15.1.1 Forest area as a proportion of total land area

Goal 15: Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss

Target 15.1: By 2020, ensure the conservation, restoration and sustainable use of terrestrial and inland freshwater ecosystems and their services, in particular forests, wetlands, mountains and drylands, in line with obligations under international agreements

Indicator 15.1.1: Forest area as a proportion of total land area

May 2024

15.2.1: Progress towards sustainable forest management

Kenya National Bureau of Statistics

Kenya National Bureau of Statistics

Senior Manager Food Monitoring, Nutrition and Environment Statistics Division

Food monitoring, Nutrition and Environment Statistics Division

Collect, compile, analyze and disseminate Environment and Natural Resources Statistics

+254-202-911-000 |+254-202-911-001

P. O BOX 30266-0100

dps@knbs.or.ke

Forest:

Land area is the country area excluding area under inland waters and coastal waters.

• Country area: Area under national sovereignty. It is the sum of land area, inland waters and coastal waters. It excludes the exclusive economic zone.
• Inland waters: Areas corresponding to natural or artificial water courses, serving to drain natural or artificial bodies of water, including lakes, reservoirs, rivers, brooks, streams, ponds, inland canals, dams, and other land-locked waters. The banks constitute limits whether the water is present or not.
• Coastal waters: Waters located in-between the land territory and the outer limit of the territorial sea. They comprise ''Internal waters'' and ''Territorial sea," and where applicable, ''Archipelagic waters."

Percent (%)

Not Applicable

Economic Survey

Forest area:

Officially nominated national correspondents and their teams prepare the country reports for the Global Forest Resources Assessment. Some countries prepare more than one report as they also report on dependent territories. For the remaining countries and territories where no information is provided, a report is prepared by FAO using existing information, literature search, remote sensing or a combination of two or more of them.

All data are provided to FAO by countries in the form of a country report through an online platform following a standard format, which includes the original data and reference sources and descriptions of how these have been used to estimate the forest area for different points in time. The online platform is used for all data entry, review and quality control.

Land area:

The Land Use, Irrigation and Agricultural Practices FAO Questionnaire, http://www.fao.org/economic/ess/ess-home/questionnaires/en/, is sent annually to 205 countries and territories reaching out the National Focal Points in National Institutions, typically National Statistical Offices, Ministries of Agriculture or other relevant Agencies. The questionnaire is sent in Excel format together with accompanying cover letter explaining FAO mandate and scope of the data collection.

Data returned in questionnaire are checked against previous reports and for consistency with the other land categories reported in questionnaire. Depending on questionnaire completeness and in case of non-reporting, Land area data may be derived by subtracting the Inland waters area and the Coastal waters area from the Country area. Missing Land area data are also imputed by carry-forward of the latest value officially reported by the country.

Annual basis

Annual basis

Kenya Forests Service

Kenya National Bureau of Statistics

Kenya National Bureau of Statistics is mandated to collect, compile, analyze, publish and disseminate official statistics for public use

Forests fulfil a number of functions that are vital for humanity, including the provision of goods (wood and non-wood forest products) and services such as habitats for biodiversity, carbon sequestration, coastal protection and soil and water conservation.

The indicator provides a measure of the relative extent of forest in a country. The availability of accurate data on a country's forest area is a key element for forest policy and planning within the context of sustainable development.

Changes in forest area reflect the demand for land for other uses and may help identify unsustainable practices in the forestry and agricultural sector.

Forest area as percentage of total land area may be used as a rough proxy for the extent to which the forests in a country are being conserved or restored, but it is only partly a measure for the extent to which they are sustainably managed.

The indicator was included among the indicators for the Millennium Development Goals (MDG indicator

7.1 “Proportion of land covered by forest”).

Assessment of forest area is carried out at infrequent intervals in many countries. Although the improved access to remote sensing data can help some countries to update their forest area estimates more frequently, estimation of forest area using remote sensing techniques has certain challenges. In particular the assessment of forest area relates to land use, while remote sensing primarily assesses land cover. Furthermore, gradual changes, such as forest regrowth, require several years to become detectable in satellite imagery. In addition, forest areas with low canopy cover density (e.g. 10-30%) are still difficult to detect at large scale with affordable remote sensing techniques.

All data submitted by countries to FRA, including the FAO estimates made in case of desk studies, are available at the FRA online platform (https://fra-data.fao.org/). The platform also includes the calculated indicator for 15.1.1. A request for validation was sent to the Head of Forestry of each country before finalization and publishing of data.

Forest area:

Detailed methodology and guidance on how to prepare the country reports through an online web platform and to convert national data according to national categories and definitions to FAO’s global categories and definitions is found in the document “FRA 2020 Guidelines and Specifications” (www.fao.org/3/I8699EN/i8699en.pdf) .

Land area:

Detailed classification and definition are provided in sections “Instructions” and “Definitions”, of the FAO Land Use, Irrigation and Agricultural Practices Questionnaire of which a copy is available on the FAO Statistics website, Data Collection subpage (http://www.fao.org/statistics/data-collection/en/).

Definitions are also provided together with data in the FAOSTAT Land Use domain in section “Definitions and Standards” (http://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#data/RL).

The Kenya National Bureau of Statistics is ISO certified based on 9001:2015 Standard requirements. The processes of compilation, production, publication and dissemination of data, including quality control, are carried out following the methodological framework and standards established by the KNBS, in compliance with the Internationally acceptable standards

The KNBS adheres to Kenya Statistical Quality Assurance Framework (KesQAF) that underlines principles to be assured in managing the statistical production processes and output.

Data consistency and quality checks are conducted through Technical Working Groups (TWGs) before publication and dissemination.

The processes of compilation, production, publication and dissemination of data, including quality control are subjected to a set criteria and standards to ensure conformity.

Data is available for 2009-2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022,2023 at National level

Not applicable

Economic Survey