2023-11-30-accounts

Kipsaina Education and Environment Partnership (KEEP)

Trustees’ Annual Report and Accounts

For the year ending 30 November 2023

Charity number: 1175806 www.keepkenya.org

Reference and administrative information for the period ended 30 November 2023

Charity Name Kipsaina Education and Environment Partnership (KEEP) Legal Status Charitable Incorporated Organisation Governing Document Constitution Registered Charity number 1175806 Date registered with 20 November 2017 Charity Commission Principal address 4 The Square Greta Bridge Barnard Castle County Durham DL12 9SD Trustees Sam Forsyth Rubel Quader Mary Charrington Bank HSBC 1 Prospect Place Darlington County Durham DL3 7LQ

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KEEP TRUSTEES’ ANNUAL REPORT Contents

Objects

Governance

Fundraising and donations

Framework for understanding KEEP and KCWCG’s activities

Achievements and performance

A. Social, economic and educational impact

1. Interlocking Stabilised Soil Block (ISSB) construction

2. Continued support of the community car (Toyota Fielder)

3. Beekeeping and honey production

4. Agroforestry demo plot development

5. Rotary Digital Bridges

6. B. Environmental impact through tree planting

7. Tree nursery report

8. Research into reducing the use of plastic ‘polytube’

9. Research into forest soil replacement

10. Water pump purchase

11. Lobbying for an off-grid seedbank

12. Carbon credits

13. Large scale tree planting

14. i. The current Ecosia deal

15. ii. Future plans · Ecosia Phase 2 funding (once Phase 1 signed off)

C. Social enterprise (Kipsaina Agroforestry) development

Future plans

Financial review and reserves policy

Risk management

Receipts and payments year ended November 2023

Appendix:

Proposed “Sitatunga Corridor” pilot project

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KEEP TRUSTEES’ ANNUAL REPORT

Kipsaina Education and Environment Partnership (henceforth “KEEP”) presents its sixth Trustees’ Annual Report. The charity was registered with the Charity Commission on 20 November 2017. It operates as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO), which provides protection for the charity, trustees and volunteers and helps the charity be sustainable.

This report sets out a summary of the activities and achievements of the charity in its sixth year of operation, to the period ending 30 November 2023.

As a small charity, the year’s financial performance is presented on a Receipts and Payments basis which appears at the end of this document. A summary of the sixth year’s finances is presented in the financial review section.

To the best of the trustees’ knowledge, the prepared financial statements comply with current statutory requirements, the charity's Constitution and the Statement of Recommended Practice - Accounting and Reporting by Charities (SORP).

Objects

The objects of KEEP as set out in its Constitution are twofold:

1. For the public benefit, the conservation, protection and improvement of wetlands in western Kenya, in particular, but not exclusively, the Saiwa Swamp ecosystem and surrounding area.

2. The advancement of education for children living in the Saiwa Swamp ecosystem and surrounding area, in particular, but not exclusively, at the Kipsaina Primary School, by improving their physical learning environment and by promoting environmental awareness.

KEEP is the result of a long-standing friendship, now stretching to over 30 years, between UK filmmaker turned biology teacher Sam Forsyth (SSF), and Kenyan environmentalist, educator and community activist Maurice Wanjala (MSW). KEEP works closely, though not exclusively, with Maurice’s locally based NGO Kipsaina Crane and Wetland Conservation Group (KCWCG) - registered as a Community Based Organisation (CBO) in Kenya - to provide enhanced educational opportunities for children in the Kipsaina area, and to promote the conservation and improvement of the local wetlands. These wetlands provide protected nesting sites for up to six pairs of Crowned Cranes and are a habitat for the Sitatunga, a rare aquatic antelope, as well as a range of other wetland species.

Sam Forsyth and Maurice Wanjala

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Governance

KEEP is administered and managed by a board of three trustees who manage the charity on a voluntary basis. As set out in the charity’s Constitution, the three founding trustees were initially appointed for 4 years (Sam Forsyth – referred to as SSF in this document), 3 years (Rubel Quader) and 2 years (Mary Charrington).

Subsequently all trustees will be re-elected or appointed anew for a 3-year term by a resolution passed at a properly convened meeting of the charity trustees, with due regard given to the skill, knowledge and experience required for the effective administration of the KEEP CIO. The charity must have a minimum of three trustees at all times. If the number falls below this minimum then the remaining trustee(s) may act only to call a meeting of the charity trustees in order to appoint a new trustee(s). All three trustees have been subsequently re-elected in order to continue as KEEP trustees, most recently Mary Charrington in November 2022 and Rubel Quader in November 2023.

In the sixth year of its operation, the KEEP trustees held 2 trustee meetings. Decisions are made by the approval of a majority of the trustees. The trustees have ensured that all charitable activities and approval of its future operational plans have been undertaken with regard to the Charity Commission’s guidance on public benefit and in accordance with KEEP's Constitution and Objects.

Trustees are required to familiarise themselves with the charity’s regulatory requirements and to that end have attended the Charity Commission’s seminars for charities working in high-risk areas, as well as undertaking a course on data protection. In addition, they follow advice from specialist organisations on safeguarding

Fundraising and donations

Fundraising this year has been limited, comprising £1,930 raised from private donations, including Gift Aid.

It was agreed by the trustees in 2019 that, rather than acting solely as a direct fundraiser, KEEP, as a small charity, should focus a large part of its efforts on advocating for and brokering partnerships with larger charities and NGOs. Such partnerships should always operate for the benefit of Kipsaina and its surrounding communities and environment in accordance with KEEP’s charitable Objects.

The largest of these direct collaborations, as facilitated by KEEP, over the period of the sixth annual report has been an ongoing tree-planting contract between our partner KCWCG and the Dutch/German social business Ecosia (www.ecosia.org), an “eco” search engine which devotes all its profits to tree planting across the globe. Ecosia maintains its commitment to its partnership with KCWCG. KEEP is continuing to explore the potential and viability of carbon credit trading as a source of income.

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Framework for understanding KEEP and KCWCG’s activities

MC and SSF have worked with MSW and UK collaborators to produce the following schematic explaining the drivers and outputs for KEEP’s activities in partnership with KCWCG.

Kipsaina Crane and Wetland Conserva1on Group (KCWCG)

Theory of Change

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Where we are Our purpose Where we want to be
A sustainable, biodiverse indigenous
An experienced community conservation To equip and enable community-led forest and wetland that spans the river
CBO (est 1991) recognized internationally regeneration and maintenance of a network of Western Kenya to the benefit
(Disney Conservation Hero 2021) healthy, diverse ecosystem of its communities
Drivers
1 Local economy 2 Biodiversity 3 Community development
Generate income from sustainable forest
Mitigate drought and flooding Preserve a clean and healthy water supply
products
Safeguard carbon payments for adjacent
landowners Safeguard population of flagship species Develop skills
Promote ecotourism Increase biodiversity Create and maintain sustainable jobs, with
women empowered by equal opportunity
----- End of picture text -----

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Achievements and performance

August 2023 saw SSF visit Kipsaina (on a self-funded basis) to support Maurice Wanjala and KCWCG in its capacity building and explore new international networking opportunities. Many of the activities and future opportunities detailed in this report are as a direct result of this visit.

In its sixth year of operation, KEEP has carried out the following activities which are all directly aligned with the charity’s social, environmental and educational objects.

A. Social, economic and educational impact

1. Interlocking Stabilised Soil Block (ISSB) construction

Completion of KCWCG Office

A new building made of ISSB to act as the KCWCG office and Community Centre in Kipsaina village was completed during the year (main construction was within the previous reporting cycle). The building will act as a prototype for further community buildings including plans for a primary health centre. This building consolidates KCWCG’s activities on the tree-nursery site, replacing a smaller office that had been built ten years previously away from the treeplanting operation in the main section of the village. This building, as well as being a prototype for further community construction, will act as a centrepiece for future KCWCG activities and enhance the ability to hold large functions within the tree nursery space.

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Student / Tourist Accommodation Block

Construction has begun on an accommodation block at the KCWCG Nursery site, to form an operational unit alongside the completed KCWCG Office and Community Centre. This accommodation block will provide a male and female dormitory for visiting agroforestry students. This is vital to the continued development of the tree nursery and agroforestry demo plot (see below). There is also potential to generate revenue from ecotourism.

Additional plans were developed by SSF and MSW in August 2023, at the invitation of Kenya Forest Service for ISSB-constructed barracks for KFS rangers. Although unsuccessful on this occasion, the proposal demonstrates the potential for further construction once an ISSB building company has been established.

2. Continued support of the community car (Toyota Fielder)

KEEP purchased a community car for KCWCG use in 2020. This car has been used for training, hospital visits, and tree nursery support work, including collection of seeds from women’s cooperatives and smaller scale tree seedling transport. The picture shows MSW in the community car Aug 2023 with Topista Wafula, the KCWCG Forest Block 3 tree planting Team Leader.

3. Beekeeping and honey production

KEEP is looking at ways to support the expansion KCWCG’s existing honey production. Bee-keeping (for honey and wax) will be developed as an important sustainable income generator, as the integrated agroforestry model is developed (see below).

Whilst SSF was in Kipsaina in August, he and MSW’s son, Collins Wanjala, developed a novel prototype beehive using sections of giant bamboo (grown in the KCWCG tree-nursery from plants donated by Barney School in 2018). Collins went on to demonstrate the viability of this prototype. A cheaply produced hive such as this would increase the rate of honey production. In contrast, the cost of conventional larger, plank-built hives is a bar to production, and traditional hollow-log hives are time-consuming to manufacture. “Bambee” honey, the name given to the honey produced in the new hive, could become a key income generator for future collective marketing schemes.

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4. Agroforestry demo plot development

A key element in KEEP’s partnership with KCWCG is assisting with the development of their organic agroforestry demo-plot (shown in the images below and to the right). This is a two acre site within Kipsaina adjacent to the main tree nursery. The aim is to develop methods that can be used in partnership with local farmers, allowing them to continue to produce crops under and between trees. This is a vital component of the plans for an integrated agroforestry model in all future planting schemes.

Whilst SSF was in Kenya August 2023, he and MSW visited Forest Foods at the Brackenhurst complex in Limuru near Nairobi (shown in the images below). This was followed by a further visit that included facilitating travel from Kipsaina to Limuru for four farmers with farms adjacent to Kipsaina and Kapenguria Rivers (who are stakeholders in the proposed Ecosia Phase 2 Sitatunga Corridor planting scheme - see below). Forest Foods staff were hugely welcoming and informative, and the Kipsaina farmers left with a strong understanding of the principles of the “Syntropic” farming system which KCWCG wishes to adopt. Syntropic Farming is a system based on the inclusion of large quantities of biomass into the planting beds. The biomass is generated from harvesting branches from the rows of trees and wild banana grown between the growing beds as well as from the removal of woody invasive species from nearby indigenous forest/wetlands. The biomass is generated using a wood-chipper (see below for the Honda chipper being used at the Forest Foods site). The inter-spaced rows can also be used to house mobile chicken or goat units – KCWCG are currently looking at construction of these using bamboo.

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5. Rotary Digital Bridges

Rotary Digital Bridges (RDB) evolved from an idea of SSF that KEEP could recruit new schools to become fundraising hubs. It has led to a positive development in the KEEP-KCWCG partnership, aligning with their joint aims of promoting educational opportunities. Initial approaches were successfully made to two schools in the town of Barnard Castle in the North of England where the KEEP is based. As a result, two RDBs have been set up, the first between Barnard Castle School (where SSF teaches) and Kipsaina High School; the second between Teesdale School and St Christopher’s High School for Girls near Kipsaina. One live link-up was held during this reporting cycle which, due to logistical reasons was between Barnard Castle School and St Christopher’s. The aim was to foster international links and to encourage school journalism. It is planned that this link will be revisited and expanded in the coming year.

These images show the celebration event held in 2023 at the new KCWCG HQ for teenagers from Kipsaina High School and St Christopher’s Girls’ School as well as the Certificate of Achievement given to each of the Kenyan participants in the scheme.

Barnard Castle School Industry Day

As part of the RDB scheme, Barnard Castle School held an “Industry Day” competition for the Lower Sixth. Nine teams of eight pupils took the brief of developing a potential product for the newly created social enterprise Kipsaina Agroforestry (KipAgro). These included honey, beeswax, macadamia nuts, sweet potatoes, bamboo, mango, arrowroot, avocado and ecotourism. This event will be replicated in future and used as a model for other schools in the UK and Kenya.

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B. Environmental impact through tree planting

KEEP continued to support KCWCG’s tree planting activities during 2022-23 including:

1. Tree nursery support

Sustaining Kipsaina Tree Nursery throughout 2022-23 in order to produce up to 1 million seeds for planting in 2024.

2. Research into reducing the use of plastic “Polytube”

KEEP continues to research methodologies to reduce and replace the use “polytubes” in the tree planting cycle.

Polytubes (see right) remain one of the few singleuse plastic items allowed by the Kenyan government, which has banned all other plastic bags. It is probable that polytubes will be banned in the near future; the only current prevention of a ban being the lack of a viable alternative. KCWCG

is experimenting with various alternatives, including producing planters made from recycled plastic drinks bottles and with different bamboo-based solutions. KEEP is looking at ways in which it can support KCWCG in developing these and other potential replacement technologies, including sourcing international funds which focus on recycling and reducing the use of plastic.

3. Research into forest soil replacement

Encouragement towards sustainable and effective replacement of “forest soil”. Forest soil (containing vital fungal mycelium) is scraped from the forest floors of existing indigenous forests and added in significant quantities to the potting mix. KCWCG used over 80 tonnes of this product to add to the polytube potting mixture in 2022-23. The scale of forest soil usage (indicated in the images

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below from the KCWCG nursery site) poses environmental challenges to the biodiversity of the collection sites, as well as significant transport costs. This has led to discussions, with author Merlin Sheldrake and with Oxford University, to explore the potential for international collaboration on a research programme. Practical experimentation is taking place within the KCWCG tree-nursery and agroforestry site (see above for more detail on the agroforestry plot).

4. Water pump purchase

Further Development of Kipsaina WASH+ included the purchase of a water pump to service the ISSB water-tanks constructed during the previous Annual Report period. This pump allowed the continued watering of the KCWCG tree nursery throughout the dry season (the previous water pump having been on loan and no longer available). The only alternative to a pump is the arduous routine of taking water from the river, watering-can by watering-can, leaving the nursery staff with no time to carry out other work.

5. Lobbying for an off-grid seed bank

In August 2023, SSF and MSW visited the Brackenhurst branch of the Centre for Ecosystem Restoration Kenya (CERK). The Terraformation (Terraformation | Native Biodiverse Reforestation ) off-grid seed bank they operate was of particular interest. The images below show Maurice Wanjala discussing the operation of the unit with CERK botanist Victor Otieno. SSF and MSW put a bid together to partner with CERK and install a seed-bank unit at Kipsaina. This bid has not yet been successful, but we are hopeful that either this or another partnership will lead to us securing such a facility in the future.

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6. Carbon credits

Whilst SSF was in Kenya with Maurice in Aug 2023, SSF arranged a visit to KCWCG operations by Mike O’Brien (pictured right with one of the dairy goats provided by KCWCG), Africa Director of the Carbon Credit organisation Nature 4 Justice (N4J) https://www.nature4justice.earth/

After very positive feedback from Mike O’Brien and a number of supportive Zoom meetings with the full international N4J team, SSF and Maurice wrote a large-scale funding bid to N4J.

The main funder had a requirement for a minimum project scale of 9,000 hectares, an order of magnitude above current KCWCG planting. To this end, the proposal was based on a very extensive planting proposal for the re-establishment of the riparian buffer forest for the entire Western Kenyan river system, to include more extensive planting around 18 major wetland margins.

Although in hindsight, this project was too extensive for KEEP and KCWCG to deliver in this form (based as it was on nearly 1800km of river-side planting), a huge amount of positive learning resulted from the funding bid process:

1. Development of the integrated “Syntropic” agroforestry model to be utilised in all future developments.

2. GIS skill-set development (through collaboration between KCWCG and Barnard Castle School) and Google Earth KML files which will be invaluable in future mapping requirements for ongoing proposals.

3. Development of an achievable smaller scale, indigenous, riparian wetland forest pilot project, based on the two feeder rivers for Saiwa Swamp National Park, that will be re-versioned for future bids.

4. A wide-ranging list of “risk-reduction” community benefits, including a much wider range of sustainable income generation projects than KCWCG has previously developed.

7. Large scale tree planting

i. The current Ecosia Deal

In September 2021, KEEP negotiated a €59,431 tree planting contract with Eco-search engine Ecosia, whose profits are channelled into treeplanting projects internationally. The initial approach to Ecosia was made by SSF in May 2021 and the final agreement was signed in Sept 2021.

The Ecosia planting was carried out on Kenyan Government land managed by Kenya Forest Service (KFS), namely Kitale Forest Block 3, a peri-urban degraded eucalyptus plantation of roughly 100 acres. KEEP provided support and advocacy to KCWCG in proposing a 200,000 tree planting target as part of the KFS “Adopt a Forest” project. This included a further series of high-level stakeholder Zoom meetings to ensure the vital support of KFS.

The completion of this planting scheme has been delayed by over two years (due to a number of factors beyond the control of KCWCG). KEEP has supported KCWCG in their management of

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the Ecosia relationship throughout this delay. It is likely that Ecosia will continue to back KCWCG in future planting, in spite of this extended delay, as evidenced by supportive communications from Edmund Muller at Ecosia throughout the period.

· ii. Future plans Ecosia Phase 2 funding (once Phase 1 signed off)

Future planting will be away from the Kitale forest blocks and along river and wetland margins

The proposal is to plant 250,000 trees along the two water courses, Kipsaina River and Kapenguria River. The planting will start at the sources of the rivers including in the Cherang’any Hills, helping to secure the water-flow in these threatened rivers, vital to the continued existence of the biodiverse Saiwa Swamp ecosystem. KCWCG is planning this in collaboration with the National Environment Management Agency (NEMA), building on existing good relationships.

See Appendix for the proposed future implementation of this plan to include Carbon Credit incentives for the landowners involved. (Appendix: Sitatunga Wildlife Corridor proposal)

C. Social enterprise Kipsaina Agroforestry development

“Kipsaina Agroforest” (KipAgro) has been registered as a named Kenyan Social Enterprise. KEEP’s collaborative activities in Kenya are limited by the Kenyan Government’s restriction on “for profit” activities by Community Based Organisations (CBO). As KEEP intends to support enterprises that will generate profit - such as carbon trading, large scale tree seed and seedling sales and ISSB building – SSF and MSW are taking active steps to finalise the creation of a new Kenyan Social Enterprise. Governance of this entity will be at an arm’s length from KEEP. The constitution of the new social enterprise will stipulate that all profits generated will be channelled into initiatives consistent with the funding aims of KEEP in Kenya.

The Current Directors are MSW and his daughter Sharon Neron. Paul Easton of Barnard Castle School has stepped aside as a potential director and SSF is in the process of finding a suitable replacement UK director, independent of KEEP. KipAgro still needs incorporation, which will be carried out in the next reporting cycle.

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Future Plans

1. KEEP continues to work with Barnard Castle School and KCWCG to help turn Kipsaina Primary School into a flagship eco-school and sustainable agriculture training facility. This school improvement work is extending to plans for rainwater harvesting tanks in other schools local to Kipsaina (Kipsaina High School being the first beneficiary of this scheme) and in Nandi County. We hope to instigate ISSB building of rainwater harvesting in schools and classroom blocks during 2023/24 (in addition to the two tanks built in 2022 at the KCWCG tree nursery).

2. The KCWCG tree nursery remains the single biggest potential economic driver for all the other planned activities. The intention is to extend the contract with Ecosia – still in the pipeline until the successful completion of Phase One planting.

3. KEEP is exploring ways in which it can help KCWCG tap into the Carbon Credit market, learning lessons from previous bids. In particular it seeks to collaborate with other carbon credit organisations and to support expansion of KCWCG activities to eventually plant along riparian corridors in all twelve counties of Western Kenya. (see Appendix for the proposed “Sitatunga Corridor” pilot project)

4. Support for the continued development of KipAgro social enterprise.

5. Tree-Nursery Sustainability Research The following areas of research will continue. The purpose of this research is to increase the environmental and economic sustainability of KWCWG’s tree nursery operations. Areas of research include:

6. i) Replacement of plastics in the tree nursery - sustainable alternatives to the polytubes currently used for seedling production, use of which is now tightly regulated by the Kenyan Government.

7. ii) Funding and design of “tree seed banks”, with a view to construction of such a facility at the Kipsaina Tree Nursery. Viable seed storage is a major challenge to any tree planting operation. Establishing such a facility would facilitate the supply of seeds to all KCWCG operations, as well as the option of selling surplus seeds to other growers, potentially creating a large additional income stream.

8. iii) KEEP continues to look for ways to sustain research into potential replacement of the hundreds of tonnes of “forest soil” required for the successful germination of indigenous tree seed (forest soil having the necessary fungal hyphae growth required for successful seed germination and seedling growth). Purchase and transport of this soil is a considerable expense to the KCWCG nursery operation, as well as being environmentally degrading to the forests it is gathered from. If successful, this could become a breakthrough process, transforming tree nursery operations across East Africa.

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Financial review and reserves policy

In KEEP’s sixth year of operation, the policy of the trustees remains to maintain a positive bank balance at all times without recourse to borrowing or usage of overdraft facilities. As a small charity the trustees seek to initiate projects only once the full estimated amount, with at least a 10% contingency buffer, has been raised and is available in the charity’s CIO bank account for deployment.

Funding for projects is provided to local partners in staged payments, rather than in one go, and is conditional on them furnishing KEEP with a comprehensive breakdown of spend (including receipts for materials and services purchased) at regular intervals.

Risk management

The trustees have attended a Charity Commission course on managing risks and maintain a risk register which is reviewed annually. In addition, the charity has a Safeguarding Policy in place which it requires all partners and contractors to sign up and adhere to. The policy was written in consultation with SAFE (Safer Activities for Everyone), a not-for-profit community interest company established in 1987 which is dedicated to raising child and adult safeguarding standards both in the UK and overseas.

KEEP has a data protection policy in line with GDPR requirements, and a Privacy Policy available on request.

The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report above. Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees

Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees

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Sam Forsyth Mary Charrington Trustee Trustee

30[th] August 2024 30[th] August 2024

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KEEP

RECEIPTS AND PAYMENTS ACCOUNTS

YEAR ENDED 30 NOVEMBER 2023

Period from 01 December 2022 to 30 November 2023

	2023	2023	2023	2022
	Unrestricted	Restricted	Total	Total
	funds	funds	Funds	Funds
	£	£	£	£
Receipts (Donations)
Barnard Castle School			0	0
Barnard Castle Rotary Club			0	3,235
Private Donations	1,930		1,930	111
Total Receipts	1,930	0	1,930	3,346
Payments
Charitable activities - general	350		350	1,000
Charitable activities – ISSB	1,500		1,500	3,181
Bank charges for international money transfers	34		34	84
Administration	254		254	389
Total payments	2,138	0	2,138	4,654
Net receipts / (payments)			-208	-1,308
Cash funds b/f			813	2,121
Cash funds c/f			604	813

Differences in totals due to rounding

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APPENDIX

Proposed “Sitatunga Wildlife Corridor” pilot project

DRAFT Proposal Upper Saiwa River, Sitatunga Wildlife Corridor Project

(Growing Trees for Water, Wealth and Wildlife) Uguzaji wa miti kwa maji, mali na wanyama pori

Delivery Partner Organisa[on: Kipsaina Crane and Wetland Conservaron Group (https://kcwcg.org):

KCWCG Founder and Director, Maurice Wanjala: [e-mail]

Maurice Wanjala, named as one of the 2021 Disney Global Conservation Heroes, has developed an integrated model of native tree production, with related livelihoods, sustainable since 1991 in Western Kenya. He currently is planting 200,000 indigenous trees for Ecosia.

KCWCG Director and Project Manager Maurice Wanjala tree planting with school children Credit: KCWCG

KCWCG Intro Film (from 2019)

UK Funding coordination partner Kipsaina Education and Environment Partnership (KEEP) Contact: Sam Forsyth [e-mail]

Kenyan Government Agency Stakeholders: National Environment Management Agency (NEMA) and Water Resources Authority (WRA) Tree-planting funder: Ecosia Carbon Credit Organisation: (TBD)

KCWCG Tree Nursery

Project Need: Kenya is recognised by the UN as a severely waterstressed nation with only half of the required water per capita. Key wetlands and surrounding forests are subject to major degradation

and this is increasing water insecurity. We are seeing increased flash flooding and polluted watercourses, made worse by the demands for building and non-sustainable agriculture. Iconic wildlife species are on the brink of extinction and reforestation is often using non-native trees upsetting the balance of the ecosystem. With limited economic opportunities, our natural environment is being eroded along with the opportunity to return the value of that natural capital to the community.

Project Coverage: Total of 17km stretching up both the Kipsaina and Kapenguria rivers up stream of Saiwa Swamp National Park, Trans Nzoia Western Kenya.

Project Aim: To work with landowners and communities to sustainably re-establish a continuous riparian strip of indigenous forest and associated wetland vegetation along the feeder rivers to Saiwa Swamp, the smallest National Park in Kenya. This will act as a wildlife corridor linking existing and previous breeding sites for the three “flagship” wetland species sitatunga (aquatic antelope), De Brazza’s monkey and the grey crowned crane. It will also help sustain dry-season flow of water feeding the biodiversity of the National Park and help prevent flash-flooding downstream.

Crowned Crane

Sitatunga aquatic antelope

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Objectives

1. To plant an indigenous forestry buffer zone ranging from 10 m minimum (at steep bank sections) and 30m maximum from the demarcated flood line (to be established and pegged by National Environment Management Agency (NEMA) and WRA.

2. To engage 600 farmers with land adjacent to the two rivers.

3. To enhance local economic conditions through carbon credits and support for sustainable alternative livelihoods (including honey production, and where suitable, tilapia fish-farming) that make support for planting and maintaining the riparian corridor a logical decision for local landowners and other local stakeholders.

4. To work with as many of the farmers as possible to extend the canopy planting zone beyond the minimum to include economically active agroforestry fruit and nut trees as well as structural giant bamboo species.

5. To train and support farmers (through establishment of small, 10 farmer ultra-local cooperatives and wider collective, value-added processing and marketing of products) in inter-cropping of organic vegetable, goat and chicken production in between the belts of agroforestry planting.

6. To provide clean water sources (through provision of protected springs outside the planted zone) and ISSB rainwater harvesting tanks. This will reduce encroachment into the wetland for water extraction and reduce incidence of water born disease.

This project is to be seen as a proof of concept for a wider project to eventually encompass all the rivers and wetlands of the Trans Nzoia River basin (from the twin Water-Towers of Cherang’any Hills and Mt Elgon to Lake Victoria).

We propose the following alongside our reforestation and tree production activity:

1. Using GIS to plan and track large scale tree planting and aftercare to at least ten years post planting using community data input and accreditation of this by international partners.

2. Integrating the interlocking stabilised soil block technology (ISSB) into all infrastructure created for the project - and build capacity for wide ranging school infrastructure to include WASH with rainwater harvesting. ISSB technology removes a very large percentage of carbon dioxide from the building supply chain by removing the wood burning involved in locally produced brick.

3. Construction of solar-power micro-grids to power the following:

4. a) Water purification (removing carbon dioxide from heating water

5. for sterilisation)

   • b) LED lighting for public spaces, public buildings and homes

   • c) Electric vehicles for the forestry teams

6. d) Solar powered water pumps for tree nursery and vegetation

7. propagation.

8. Construction and sale of fuel-efficient cooking stoves and solar cookers removing carbon dioxide and wood from cooking.

ISSB Rainwater Tank construction. Credit: www.hytuganda.com

Traditional brick firing using tree trunks Credit:KEEP

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Costing and Staffing

Overall Costings are still being worked on, but this is an initial guide as to staffing and other set up costs.

Staffing Requirements (in KES)

Tree nursery staff.20@10500/person/Months /12= 2,520000. Project Manager @40,000×12= 480,000 Assistant @ 20,000 × 12 Months= 240,000 Admin Support @20,000 x 12 months = 240.000 Agricultural outreach support workers x 2 @20,000 (each) x 12 = 480.000 Tree nursery Foreman @ 15000 ×12 =180,000

Equipment

2 (polytunnel type) greenhouses for bamboo propagation and other seedling propagation. 2 wood chippers 2 chainsaws Wheelbarrow x 5 shovel x 10 slashers gumboots and protective clothing

To start the new project:

Organise and hold 8 sensitisation meetings, 4 on each river (costs TBD). 8 training events including 2 for the technical teams (costs TBD). T shirt printing and one road show (Costs TBD).

SDG-Aligned Impact:

CORE SDGS

ADDITIONAL SDGS

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