The green light has been given for the construction of hotels within a national park in Kenya, and this could set a dangerous precedent for the “concretization” of other corners of the country's savannah. National media reports that the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) has issued licenses for the construction of hotels within Meru National Park. The announcement came from President William Ruto himself and curiously follows the halt of another hotel construction project in the Ngong Forest, just outside Karen in Nairobi. However, Ruto revealed that similar projects are underway in other national parks in the country as part of a broader strategy to grow Kenya's tourism sector. Protests by environmentalists, particularly the Green Belt Movement, an organization founded by Nobel Prize winner Wangari Maathai to protect the country's green spaces, have halted the project for now. The movement had argued that the construction of a hotel in the middle of the forest posed a threat to the protected forests, both as a water source and as a natural habitat, and called for urgent action.Speaking in Meru during the launch of the Human-Wildlife Conflict Compensation Fund, Ruto said that the KWS had authorized the development of modern hotel facilities in the park, amid growing criticism of the allocation of Kenya's green spaces to investors, even if they are not likely to be local entrepreneurs.  “The KWS and our ministry have issued licenses for the construction of three hotels within Meru National Park. Local investors should also be included in the investment plans for the park,” President Ruto said, as reported by the Kenyans website.Ruto, emphasizing that local investors must be able to participate in the construction of these facilities, ensuring that residents also benefit from the tourist revenue generated in the area, said that the initiative aims to attract more tourists to the region, to enhance the economic potential of the national park and improve the living conditions of local communities.