The Laikipia region has a number of forests rich in biodiversity with tree species ranging from cedar, podo, olive, sandalwood and Prunus africana. Aside from being sources of tourism, bio enterprise, and everyday livelihoods such as fuel sources, forests are critical catchments for rivers. However, deforestation is occurring rapidly across the area.

Community Forest Associations

Through Community Forest Association’s (CFA’s), resource users come together to combat destruction of their forests through improved management and sustainable use.

LWF works closely with the Kenya Forest Service (KFS) and other partners in forming and supporting CFA’s.

Activities:

• Reforestation

CFA’s are working towards indigenous forest restoration by replanting degraded patches in the forest and along riverbanks (riparian land).

• Conservation awareness

LWF provides education on river catchment conservation. The project also uses events such as demonstrations during “World Forest Day” and field trips/open days to build awareness around the importance of trees and forests.

• Policing

Community scouts help KFS minimise forest degradation through active policing of the forest. These scouts also patrol for other illegal activities such as poaching.

• Linking Bee Keeping to forest conservation

Loss of trees also has negative implications for beekeepers causing the loss of their food and habitat. When people are taught about the valuable contribution of bees to their livelihoods, they respect bees and try to protect them, their habitat and forage area as much as possible. Beekeeping projects are therefore essential to raise awareness about the value of forests and engage people in conscious protection, conservation and sustainable resource management.Beekeepers are trained to start tree nurseries, minimize use of pesticides/herbicides, prevent deforestation and control forest fires.

Supporting On-farm forestry

On-farm forestry is the cultivation of trees that meet domestic, fodder, fuel and nutrition needs for farmers and their livestock. Farmers plant fast growing multi-purposes tree species on their land as a crop or on the periphery of their farmland, or homestead.

On-farm forestry reduces pressure on public forests by providing firewood, building materials, fodder, furniture, etc to poor households from their own plantations.

Other Activities:

• Encouraging schools and private farmers to establish tree nurseries and raise seedlings.
• Buying seedlings and distributing them to local farmers.
• Giving school children seedlings to take home and plant them around their family homesteads.
• Encouraging farmers to diversify their agricultural crop systems to include more valuable tree species.
• Providing information about the carbon sequestering potential, thus creating additional economic incentives in the form of carbon credits.

For more information: The Community Conservation Programme Officer is Josephat Musyima  Email:  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

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