Section 2. Interpretation Section In this Act unless the context otherwise requires— “benefits” mean quantifiable and non-quantifiable goods and services provided by forest ecosystems; "Board” means the Board of the Kenya Forest Service; "Cabinet Secretary” means the Cabinet Secretary responsible for matters relating to forestry; "chain of custody” means the channel through which products are distributed, tracked and monitored from their origin in the forest to their end-use; “commercial use” means any use of forest products or forest land, other than direct use for personal purposes or infrastructure development and it includes uses involving trade or any other disposition of forest products or forest land for direct or indirect financial benefits; “community” means a clearly defined group of users of forest land identified on the basis of ethnicity, culture or similar community of interests as provided under Article 63 of the Constitution; "community forest association” means a group of local persons who have registered as an association or other organization established to engage in forest management and conservation; “concession agreement” means authorization which is a long term agreement issued by the Service for the management of a specified forest area at a price determined after forest valuation and bidding; “customary rights” mean the rights which result from a long series of habitual or customary actions, constantly repeated, which have, by such repetition and by uninterrupted acquiescence, acquired the force of a law within a geographical or sociological unit; “ecosystem" means a dynamic complex of plant, animal micro-organism communities and their non-living environment interacting as a functional unit; “forest" means land which is declared or registered as a forest, or woody vegetation growing in close proximity in an area of over 0.5 of a hectares including a forest in the process of establishment, woodlands, thickets; “forestland" means a tract of land, including its flora and fauna, that is devoted to growing trees for the production of timber, wood and other forest products; “forest community” means a group of persons who have a traditional association with a forest for the purposes of livelihood, culture or religion; “forest concession” means the right of use granted to an individual or organization in respect to a specific area in a national or county forest by means of a long-term contract for the purpose of commercial forest management and utilization; “forest industries” means all businesses and organizations whose primary activities include growing, managing, processing or marketing of trees; “forest manager” means a person responsible for the management of a forest under his or her charge and implementation of this Act including— in the case of a public forest, the Kenya Forest Service or the County Government as the case may be; in the case of a community forest the person responsible for the management of community land under the relevant law; and in the case of a private forest, the owner of the private forest; “forest management plan” means a written document establishing direction and goals for the management, conservation and utilization of a specific forest land area; specifying— all silvicultural practices and activities necessary to accomplish the merchantable production of a forest product; and all practices that will minimize adverse environmental effects and improve livelihoods; “forest officer” includes the professional, technical and disciplined cadre of the Service; “forest owner” means— in the case of a public forest, the government as defined in Article 62(1)(g) of the Constitution; in the case of a community forest, the community as defined in Article 63 of the Constitution; and in the case of a private forest, the registered owner of the land as defined in Article 64 of the Constitution. “forest produce” includes bark, animal droppings, beeswax, canes, charcoal, creepers, earth, fibre, firewood, frankincense, fruit, galls, grass, gum, honey, leaves, flowers, limestone, moss, murram, soil, myrrh, peat, plants, reeds, resin, rushes, rubber, sap, soil, seeds, spices, stones, timber, trees, water, wax, withies, and such other things as may be declared by the Cabinet Secretary to be forest produce for the purpose of this Act; “forest resources” means anything of practical, commercial, social, religious, spiritual, recreational, educational, scientific, subsistence, or other potential use to humans that exists in the forest environment, including but not limited to flora, fauna, and microorganisms; “Fund” means the fund established pursuant to Section 27 ; “green zone” trees planted in an urban area covering less than 0.5 ha. “indigenous forest” means a forest which has come about by natural regeneration of trees primarily native to Kenya; “Institute” means the Kenya Forestry Research Institute established under the Science, Technology and Innovation (Cap. 511); “joint management agreement” means authorization where the Service or the County Department responsible for forestry agrees to enter into partnership with other persons for the joint management of a specified forest area, specifying the contribution, rights and obligations of each party and setting out the methods of sharing the costs and benefits accruing from the forest so managed; “licence” means a permit or other written authorization issued under the provisions of this Act; “livestock” means domesticated animals such as cattle, goats, sheep, asses, poultry, horses, camels and pigs and includes their young thereof; “nature reserve” means an area of land declared to be nature reserve under Section 39 ; “permit” means authorization issued to a person to undertake a specified forestry-related activity or service; “person” means a natural person, an association, organization or a corporate body; “private forest" means forest as classified under Section 30(4) ; “property mark" means a mark placed on a log, timber or other forest produce with a prescribed instrument to denote ownership by the Service or any other person; “protected tree” means any tree or tree species which has been declared under this Act to be protected; ”provisional forests” means any forest which has been declared a provisional forest by the Cabinet secretary under Section 35 ; “public forest” means forests as classified under 30(2) and (3); “Service” means the Kenya Forest Service established under Section 7 of this Act; “special use licence” means authorization issued to a person to undertake an activity whose primary purpose is to yield public benefit in transportation, communication, energy, research or education; “timber” means any tree hat has been felled or which has fallen, and cut wood or logs; “timber licence” means authorization issued to a person for timber harvesting in a specified forest area; “wildlife” means all forms of fauna and flora other than domesticated plants and animals.
