News

Holding the water on Mount Kenya

19.05.2016

Mount Kenya Trust (MKT) is an NGO working to protect and conserve the forest, water and wildlife around Africa’s second highest mountain – Mount Kenya. The Afromontane forests, vast bamboo stands and moorlands host incredible biodiversity including numerous species of IUCN concern such as African Elephant and Mountain Bongo, along with 81 endemic plant species. The forest is the largest contiguous forest remaining in Kenya and an UNESCO World Heritage Site described in 1999 as: ‘one of the most impressive landscapes of Eastern Africa, with its rugged glacier clad summits, Afro-Alpine Moorlands and diverse forests, which illustrate outstanding ecological processes.’

Preservation is critical not only for wildlife but also for water provision. Both the Tana (Kenya’s longest and largest river) and Ewaso Ng’iro river basins are fed from the peaks. Forests act as a huge sponge, helping to retain water and prevent soil erosion, at the same time slowly releasing water into rivers for users further down stream. These flow into a series of hydroelectric dams that deliver over 65 percent of Kenya’s hydropower.

The importance of the mountain to Kenya's water provision and ecological stability cannot be understated. Almost 90 percent of the country is arid or semiarid with rainfall patterns highly variable. With pressure on water supplies and a growing economy – be it agriculture, industry, energy or wildlife tourism – access to water has never been more critical.

That’s why this rainy season a new site along the Ontilili River has been opened up for indigenous tree planting on the north western side of the mountain. Along with Kenya Forest Service (KFS) and community members, MKT has planted over 8 000 indigenous tree seedlings (Waterberry, Podo, African Olive and Cedar) along the degraded river bank. The area is in critical need of rehabilitation due to old plantations and abused small-scale (shama) systems that cleared the site many years ago. It is alarming to see bare river banks in such a key water catchment area.

The project will bring welfare benefits to the local community through the Plantation Establishment Livelihood Improvement Scheme (PELIS), in collaboration with KFS.

PELIS, which is managed under MKT in this area, allows poor forest-adjacent communities to cultivate agricultural crops, such as potatoes, during early stages of forest establishment in areas that are in need of reforestation. The individuals are members of the local Community Forest Association and are permitted to farm for up to four years or until the tree canopy becomes too thick. This provides a livelihood for those landless people and also protection for the seedlings at their most vulnerable time from stampeding elephants and grazing predators. Well managed, the system is a cost effective and successful method to reforest degraded regions. Already MKT has replanted over 150 ha of indigenous trees using this system.

News and photo: Becky Summers of Mount Kenya Trust