Community Based Organisations
The Trust purchases equipment and tree seeds for community based organisations in the Mount Kenya region. By helping communities to grow their own indigenous and exotic tree species the aim is to lessen the pressure on the forests in the long term.
Mount Kenya Forest Stations
The Mount Kenya Trust and its partners such as Kisima Farm and Marania Farm have given generous support to some of the Forest Station nurseries and plantations. By supplying them with equipment such as fencing wire, water pipes, water pumps, tools and transport, these organisations have helped Forest Stations plant thousands of hectares of trees. With this support, some of the Forest Stations on Mount Kenya have had very high germination success rates and have managed to exceed their planting goals in the last few years. The Trust has also helped to fence two plantation areas to protect them from elephant encroachment which could destroy hundreds of thousands of newly planted seedlings.
National Reserve Reafforestation Projects
With funding from the GEF / SGP UNDP 'Community Management of Protected Areas Conservation' initiative the Trust has planted over one million indigenous seedlings in the Mount Kenya National Reserve with the help of women's groups in the Embu area. Supplied with training, equipment and seeds, the groups started tree nurseries which supply saplings to a devastated area of southeast Mount Kenya called Magacha in Irangi Forest. We are now raising funds to continue this initiative and we continue to receive support from GEF / SGP. With the help of Born Free and we are encouraging companies to help us rebuild carbon sinks to mitigate the effects of emissions caused by their business-related air travel. Safarilink offset their emissions for the year 2009 by giving us funding towards this project. We encourage other airlines to take their lead.
In 2011 The Mount Kenya Trust hopes to set up further tree planting schemes similar to the one in Embu. The next proposed scheme is to be set up in the Sirimon area. It is the firm belief of all those involved with the Trust that community involvement and sensitisation to conservation issues is the only way of ensuring a sustainable environmental outlook in Kenya in years to come. We are grateful to Fooks Trust for enabling us to start up the Sirimon project, training has already begun in earnest.
See:- www.bornfree.org.uk/animals/african-elephants/projects/bill-woodley-mt-kenya-project/
www.bornfree.org.uk/campaigns/further-activities/carbon-offsetting/
