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By Joseph Othieno, Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations Kenya, with Rodah Mbatiany of Kenya Forest Service and the FAO FOLUR Project Management Unit
Ecosystem restoration efforts in Kenya’s Mount Elgon landscape have received a boost as Community Forest Associations (CFAs) secure restoration contracts to support ecosystem recovery and sustainable forest management.
The initiative is implemented within the GEF-7 project “Integrated Landscape Management for Conservation and Restoration of the Mount Elgon Ecosystem in Western Kenya”. While the country project is led by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), it sits under the global Food Systems, Land Use and Restoration (FOLUR) Impact Program, for which the World Bank serves as the lead agency. The project is jointly executed by the Kenya Forest Service (KFS) and the Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO) .
The contracts will strengthen community-led restoration by engaging local forest associations in the rehabilitation of degraded forest areas, contributing to improved livelihoods, biodiversity conservation, and climate resilience in the Mount Elgon ecosystem.
The activity forms part of broader integrated landscape management efforts, where the project is applying FAO's Participatory Informed Landscape Approach (PILA) to restore degraded ecosystems and promote sustainable land use in key water tower landscapes.
Read the full story here.
Learn more about PILA and the participatory process to develop an Ecosystem Management Plan for Mount Elgon here.
