Njukiine Forest: Transformation of a Common-Property Resource

Abstract

About 130 kilometers northeast of Nairobi, on the lower slopes of Mount Kenya, is a large tract of eucalyptus, pine, and cypress plantations known as Njukiine Forest. Along the margins of the plantation blocks managed by the Forest Department are scattered indigenous trees, including an occasional muringa (Cordia abyssinica) from which hangs a traditional beehive. In contrast to the cacophony of bird and animal sounds that are heard in the remaining indigenous rain forest on the upper slopes of the mountain, the plantations of Njukiine are generally silent except for the distant hum of a chainsaw. Surrounding Njukiine are numerous small private farms owned mainly by Kikuyu (on the west) and Embu (on the east) families. Embu township skirts the plantation forest on its eastern side. The present-day cultural landscape greatly contrasts with the area's social and ecological setting at the turn of the century. Then Njukiine consisted of indigenous closed-canopy and open forest spreading over a wider area than the roughly one thousand hectares now covered by plantations .1 The forest provided habitat for abundant wildlife, including large numbers of buffalo and rhinoceros. For the Kikuyu and Embu Alfonso Peter Castro