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This program works to promote sustainable local livelihoods, improve community health and sustainable natural resource management. The communities in and around Mt. Kenya often suffer from ill health caused by cold climate, high altitude,  environmental diseases and limited access to health services. These communities also tend to suffer from poor nutrition, water supplies and sanitation. Inadequate health care in these communities is usually due to low awareness levels, lifestyle, nutrition, exposure to farm chemicals, and poverty. Alcoholism is major health issue among the community; other health issues include high levels of diabetes, arthritis especially among the old people, cardiovascular diseases, Cancer, Highland Malaria, water borne diseases and HIV/AIDS. Livelihoods in these rural communities depend on natural resources and small-scale agriculture, which force people to use natural resources unsustainably because of pressures such as rapid population growth, poverty and/or health issues. This has lead to damaging to the ecosystem and loss of biodiversity. Mt. Kenya ecosystem provides local people with goods and services such as water, food, herbal medicine, fuel wood, building materials, and other resources. Damage or disruption of these natural goods and services can have severe consequences for human health. Mt. Kenya ecosystem condition is being altered as a result of forest fires, drought, loss of species due to poaching and deforestation, invasive species, climate change, farming, logging, and a host of other reasons including grazing and encroachment. This program will work to create healthier communities and health ecosystems by designing and implementing community projects that promote conservation of biodiversity and improve livelihoods.

Our focus will therefore be projects that achieve the following outcomes:

  • Sustainable  management of natural resources,

  • Improving livelihoods through nature based projects

  • Improving community health

  • Food Security and Environmental Sustainability

  • Restoring degraded habitats 

Community Conservation and Livelihood

Sustainable Management of Natural Resources

 

Approach


The “Sustainable management of natural resources” approach is part of our community conservation programs to protect the environment and conserve natural resources. It has four components:

 

  • Developing community institutions and strategies for the conservation of natural resourcesSupport is given to various forest user groups to organize themselves in formal, legal institutions (such as associations, clubs, self help groups etc) and community based action plans.

  • Sustainable Land Management

 

The objective of this program is to enhance land productivity so that community can reduce the practice of looking at the forest as the only source of livelihood.

We advise small farmers and community conservation groups on the promotion of value chains, in particular for the farming activity they are practicing. The topics covered include conservation friendly farming practices and methods, sustainable agriculture, organic farming, energy and water conservation, increasing production and quality, marketing and compliance with quality standards. The project is also introducing soil conservation and erosion control techniques to help preserve the fertility and increase production and therefore income-generating potential of the land. In addition, we offer advice on development partnerships and link the farmers with the relevant private sector and public institutions.

 

  • Capacity Building

 

We help develop the capacities of the community institutions and various relevant stakeholders to enable them to undertake activities and assume responsibility for the conservation and management of natural resources. Training and awareness programs will help achieve this objective. Community groups training in a range of key skills including enterprise selection, business plan development, marketing, training in sustainable organic agricultural techniques, and group dynamics is part of this program. We also support the development of participation models, such as dialogue platforms, and encourage networking between relevant actors.

 

  • Development of Partnerships

 

We are working to develop and strengthen partnerships between community groups with the private and public sectors. Direct cooperation between producers’ groups and companies improves technologies, productivity and marketing, and raises income. We are also working to have conservation agreements signed between community organizations and state agencies responsible for management and protection of natural resources. Such agreements commit communities to protect natural resources from illegal uses. In return the communities would benefit from environmental services.

 

Improving Livelihoods through Nature Based Projects

 

Approach


This approach aims at developing projects that will enhance conservation of biodiversity including wildlife and other natural resources while improving rural livelihoods through participatory approaches. Development of community based conservation enterprise projects and eco-development will provide benefits to both conservation and local communities. The projects will strengthen linkages between conservation and improving livelihoods of local communities that live in the neighborhood of Mt. Kenya ecosystem, in addition, the projects will work to enhance the local and national economy. Increased incomes to locals can reduce community’s economic dependence on forest products.

The approach employs various conservation based income generating activities such as:

 

  • Bee Keeping,

  • Bamboo Farming And Related Value Addition,

  • Aloe Farming,

  • Commercial Tree Nurseries,

  • Traditional Handcraft,

  • Small Livestock (Rabbit And Chicken) Production,

  • Wildlife Farming

  •  Eco-Tourism.

  • Fish Farming

  • Mushroom farming

Improving Community Health

 

There is no natural resource that is more important than the health of the people. Before ensuring healthy environment, the health of the local people must be ensured. As we promote conservation and sustainable utilization of natural resources we work towards improvement of community health.

Approach

 

  • Fight against HIV/AIDS through community education and awareness raising

  • Raise community awareness on hygienic, health living, and agro-ecological practices to prevent/avoid ill health

  • Linking community to effective health care to address common ailments in the area

 

Food Security and Environmental Sustainability

 

Food security is a condition related to the supply of food, and individuals' access to it. Agriculture is the sector from which food is produced. Most of the rural poor depend on agriculture for their income. In Africa over 70% of the population live in rural areas with more than 60% mostly women engaged in Agriculture. Around conservation areas, subsistence farming is often an immediate means to food security at the household level where small-scale farming is carried out mainly by women. Agriculture is central to livelihoods and is the key source of human health and socio-economic wellbeing. Food security will continue to be vulnerable because of various contributing factors, hence calling for increased food production. According to World Bank agriculture is more effective in reducing poverty than other sectors of economy. This is yet another motivation of increased agricultural production. Increased agricultural production and productivity cannot come at the expense of the environment. With the rapid environmental degradation experienced today, the current agricultural practices which use a lot of fresh water for irrigation, use of chemical fertilizers, perpetual tilling of land, coupled with land expansion are not sustainable and lead to long-term damage to land. Climate change will increase food insecurity through crop failure, crop and livestock diseases, and widespread death of livestock and degradation of pasture. This will put huge direct pressure on natural resources. Bush meat poaching for food and income will increase, water and pasture scarcity will increase competition for those resources between people and wildlife populations, hence increasing human-wildlife conflicts. Tourism enterprises dependent on wildlife and food supplies from the local agriculture activities will be affected by climate change thus indirectly affecting food security.

 

Our approach to food security

 

  • Promoting Sustainable Agriculture- We advocate for application of principles of sustainable agriculture. Sustainable agriculture respects the ecological principles of diversity,

      From NGO Sustainable Agriculture Treaty, Global Forum at Rio de Janeiro, June 1-15, 1992:

 

 

  • "Sustainable agriculture is a model of social and economic organization based on an equitable and participatory vision of development which recognizes the environment and natural resources as the foundation of economic activity. Agriculture is sustainable when it is ecologically sound, economically viable, socially just, culturally appropriate and based on a holistic scientific approach.

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  • "Sustainable agriculture preserves biodiversity, maintains soil fertility and water purity, conserves and improves the chemical, physical and biological qualities of the soil, recycles natural resources and conserves energy. Sustainable agriculture produces diverse forms of high quality foods, fibers and medicines.

  • "Sustainable agriculture respects the ecological principles of diversity and interdependence and uses the insights of modern science to improve rather than displace the traditional wisdom accumulated over centuries by innumerable farmers around the world." [These excerpts are from NGO Sustainable Agriculture Treaty (Global Forum at Rio de Janeiro, June 1-15, 1992). Available at Information Habitat Website: http://habitat.igc.org/treaties/at-20.htm (8/23/07]

 

  • Women empowerment-Women play important roles as producers of food, managers of natural resources, income earners, and caretakers of household food and nutrition security. Empowering women is crucial to achieving food security. This program works to ensure involvement of women in decision making, training women on best practices and affordable technology in agriculture and food production, increases women access to proper tools, credit, fostering women entrepreneurship, farm inputs and access to markets.

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  • Climate change adaptation- adapting agricultural systems to extreme events. For example helping to ensure food security locally by reviving and improving production of traditional food crops, improve water efficiency (drip irrigation, growing crops in green houses), building up traditional methods of soil conservation, carrying out training in organic farming, crop and yield protection and creating sustainable market for farm produce.

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