While the vast majority of the blame for climate change can be attributed to our over-reliance on fossil fuels, massive deforestation in  the 20th and 21st centuries has diminished one of our planet’s best tools for absorbing carbon. Our forests are natural buffers against some of the worst effects of climate change, buffers that can be preserved through action on the ground.

Forests are vital for wildlife and for freshwater resources, and are relied on for the livelihoods of the  majority of local communities in Kakamega. Local people are estimated to derive products worth 100 million Kenya  Shillings (approximately US$ 1.7 million) from the Kakamega tropical rainforest each year. Local people recognise  that the forests need to be protected – but they also contribute to the damage, due to a lack of alternative livelihoods.  

In the past, Kenya has experienced erratic rainfall, attributed mainly to depletion of the five major water towers and its only remnant of tropical rainforest ecosystem – Kakamega forest. This has led to poor yields for farmers, escalating food prices and debilitating droughts.

The need to restore the degraded areas of the water tower is critical to millions of people who depend on the Kakamega tropical rainforest. 

So far, this project has:

• Planted over 660,000 native and threatened trees 

• Restored over 500 hectares of critically-degraded and biodiversity rich habitats in Kakamega Tropical rainforest  

• Sustainably diversified and strengthened livelihoods within forest buffers for over 15,000 people through tree planting activities and the promotion of alternative and profitable uses of the forest

• Produced indigenous and threatened tree seedlings in community-managed nurseries selected close to the identified planting sites  

• Enabled Local Community Forest Associations (CFAs) to take leadership in forest management and  protection

• Held advocacy workshops to rally public participation in forest and riparian protection