*4.3.4.1 Biodiversity law and policy*

A number of legal and policy instruments have been put in place to enhance conservation and regulate utilization of biodiversity resources. Among these instruments are the Constitution of Kenya 2010, which entrenches a range of environmental imperatives and provides an avenue for remedying the land tenure, land use, and gender-inequity issues that have negatively affected the country's biodiversity. The Constitution also decentralized the management of a range of natural resources to the devolved units known as County Governments. Other biodiversity-related instruments include the Revised Kenya National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (2010), Integrated Coastal Zone Management Policy (2010), Environment Management and Coordination Act (1999), National Water Policy (1999), Water Act (2002), Draft Forest Policy (2004), Draft ASALs Policy (2004), Forest Act (2005), Fisheries Policy (2008), Heritage Sites (2006), National Land Policy (2009), Energy Act (2006), Biodiversity Regulation (2006), Draft Wildlife Policy (2007), and the draft of Minerals and Mining Policy. Any initiative that directly or indirectly helps to conserve the country's biodiversity helps to meet the specific Vision 2030 poverty-alleviation objectives as well as the goal of improving the general welfare of citizens. A national biodiversity policy and law would be a useful complement to the above operative instruments.
