VZCZCXRO0329
RR RUEHAST RUEHHM RUEHLN RUEHMA RUEHPB RUEHPOD RUEHTM
DE RUEHNR #2842/01 3540508
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 190508Z DEC 08
FM AMEMBASSY NAIROBI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 8013
INFO RUEHZN/ENVIRONMENT SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY COLLECTIVE
RUEHC/DEPT OF INTERIOR WASHDC
RUEHRC/DEPT OF AGRICULTURE WASHDC
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHDC
RUEAEPA/HQ EPA WASHDC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 NAIROBI 002842 
 
DEPT ALSO FOR OES, OES/ENRC MARK JOHNSON, OES/ENV, OES/EGC ED 
FENDLEY AND DREW NELSON, AF/E, AND AF/EPS 
 
POSTS FOR REO AND ESTH OFFICERS 
 
ADDIS ABABA FOR REO KIRSTEN BAUMAN 
 
INTERIOR FOR US FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE AND US GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 
DR. JAYNE BELNAP 
 
AGRICULTURE FOR US FOREST SERVICE 
 
COMMERCE FOR BECKY ERKUL 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958:  N/A 
TAGS: SENV ETRD KCRM EINV BTIO ENRG KGHG ECON KE
SUBJECT: LACEY AMENDMENTS WILL HELP KENYA PROTECT ITS DWINDLING 
SANDALWOOD AND OTHER PRECIOUS INDIGENOUS PLANTS 
 
REFS: (A) STATE 126654  (B) NAIROBI 2710 
      (C) NAIROBI 2220 AND PREVIOUS 
 
¶1.  (U) As instructed ref A, upon receipt, post provided Lacey Act 
amendments to the Kenyan Ministry of Trade, Ministry of Foreign 
Affairs, Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife, National Environment 
Management Authority, and Forest Service, pointing out that the new 
regulations will help backstop Kenya's own efforts to protect rare 
indigenous plants and combat illegal logging. 
 
¶2.  (U) On December 17 econoff met with Forest Service deputy 
commandant for enforcement and compliance Alex Lemarkoko and head of 
corporate communications Raphael Mworia to review the Lacey Act 
amendments and learn more about Kenya's efforts to protect its 
dwindling forests (refs B-C), stem illegal charcoal production, and 
stop smuggling in sandalwood. 
 
------------------- 
Sad Sandalwood Saga 
------------------- 
 
¶3.  (SBU) Both men said Kenya is grappling with a pervasive black 
market in sandalwood and expressed confidence that the Lacey Act 
amendments would help re-enforce the Forest Service's own efforts to 
combat illegal trade in protected plants.  In recent weeks, Forest 
Service and Kenya Wildlife Service rangers have impounded several 
trucks (including an impressive 18-wheeler seen by econoff) en route 
to Tanzania full of sandalwood.  Some 120 tons of the bush's 
fragrant root have been confiscated and burned just since early 
November 2008.  Much of the sandalwood was interdicted in Namanga, a 
city bordering Tanzania, north of Arusha. 
 
¶4.  (SBU) The Kenya Forest Service believes a sophisticated cartel, 
based in Nakuru, is purchasing sandalwood, which is protected by a 
2007 presidential decree, from middlemen for 200 shillings ($2.50) 
per kilo.  The middlemen obtain the wood from impoverished 
pastoralists in the semi-arid northern regions of Kenya for a 
pittance: 5 to 20 shillings ($.06 to $.25) per kilo.  The Forest 
Service officials believe the wood is eventually sold in Dar es 
Salaam for onward shipment to Asia and the Middle East for 1000 to 
2000 shillings ($12.50 to $25.00) per kilo.  The Kenyans have 
learned that a major buyer in Dar es Salaam is the "Indo-African 
Essential Oils, Ltd. Company." 
 
¶5.  (SBU) Kenyan efforts to put a stop to the illegal trade in local 
sandalwood are hampered, Mworia and Lemarkoko acknowledged, by its 
legal harvesting, processing, and sale in neighboring Uganda and 
Tanzania.  Truck drivers moving Kenyan sandalwood, when pulled over, 
usually present certificates of origin, customs declarations, and 
transit documents ostensibly issued by Ugandan Customs asserting 
that the wood was harvested in Uganda.  Mworia said Ugandan Customs 
has cooperated with the Kenya Plant and Animal Inspectorate Service 
(KEPHIS), Forest Service, and Customs Service in examining the 
documents, invariably found to be fraudulent.  The Kenyan 
authorities have arrested a number of clearing agents, one of whom 
is now supplying details about the cartel's operations. 
 
¶6.  (SBU) Both men admitted Kenya's five-year ban on sandalwood 
sales has unwittingly bolstered the black market.  The Forest 
Service intends to rally the Ministry of Industrialization in 
developing legal guidelines on how the root might be properly 
harvested and processed into sandalwood oil in future.  Making the 
business legal in Kenya would help the Forest Service convince 
pastoralists that it is in their self-interest to cultivate and 
harvest the plant in a sustainable way. 
 
--------------------------------- 
Money Motivates Mau Deforestation 
--------------------------------- 
 
¶7.  (SBU) Lemarkoko and Mworia also discussed their agency's ongoing 
efforts to protect Kenya's five water towers, notably the Mau 
 
NAIROBI 00002842  002 OF 002 
 
 
catchment area (refs B-C).  In late June 2008, e.g., the Forest 
Service confiscated 52 tons of podo timber and eight tons of 
rosewood supposedly cut on private farms but actually downed in the 
Mau Forest.  The two Kenyan officials said forest rangers routinely 
interdict trucks laden with indigenous timber and finished wood 
products, such as doors and window frames, on their way from Narok 
to Mombasa Port.  The lumber and finished wood products, they 
believe, are destined for Asia.  They bemoaned that the Forest 
Service's 2,600 rangers are simply unable to prevent all the illegal 
felling of timber on Kenya's 1.7 million hectares of gazetted 
forest.  As in the case of sandalwood, money is the motivation 
behind the illegal cutting, in violation of the 2005 Forest Act, of 
prized indigenous trees like African red cedar, podo, and mahogany. 
They admitted that a few forest rangers, who earn a mere 13,000 
shillings ($165) per month, are tempted to take bribes to look the 
other way when protected trees are taken. 
 
----------------------------- 
Poaching Hot Line Established 
----------------------------- 
 
¶8.  (U) Poaching of flora and fauna is such a major concern in Kenya 
that the Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife has just established a 
toll-free hotline for citizens to alert the ministry's permanent 
secretary and deputy secretary about alleged instances of illegal 
hunting of bush meat; trade in contraband (animal skins, ivory, 
rhino horn, other animal parts, and live animals); unauthorized 
logging and charcoal burning; sandalwood smuggling; and unauthorized 
farming and livestock grazing in protected forests. 
 
Ranneberger