STAKEHOLDER CONSULTATIVE WORKSHOP ON ENVIRONMENTAL ADVOCACY AND GOVERNANCE.
On Monday, the Green Belt Movement held an important stakeholder, leadership, and governance meeting towards sustainable environmental conservation and management in Nandi County. Their advocacy aims to facilitate change and the development of new areas of policy in order to tackle unmet health needs in the community. The County Government of Nandi is in partnership with GBM, the National Government, Donors, Kenya Forest Service (KFS), Community Forest Association (CFA), Research Organizations, Civil Society Organizations, and Community groups.
The partnership aims at rehabilitating priority watersheds of degraded sites of the Mau Forest Ecosystem. The project targets the Mau complex, a critical ecosystem whose waters feed into Lake Victoria and the Nile River. This is well-aligned with Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 13 and SDG 15 of the UN 2030 agenda for sustainable development and also the AFD country strategy for Kenya 2018-2022.
The success of the partnership has resulted in the planting of 149,000 and 156,000 trees in Nandi for the years 2018 and 2019 respectively, done through community participation.
The Chief Officer of Agriculture Mr. Wilson Lelei assured of the County Government of Nandi’s focus objective towards mobilizing and rallying support for environmental resources protection. “We as the County Government of Nandi will ensure that we work with Green Belt Movement to ensure our natural resources are protected.”
Chief Officer Agriculture, Mr.Wilson Lelei.
The Deputy Executive Director Madam Mercy Karunditu said that the partnership goal is to mobilize communities to restore biodiversity, improve water quality, and sustain livelihoods through landscape management, watershed restoration, and good governance practices by December 2024.
Executive Deputy Director Green Belt Movement (GBM), Mercy Karunditi.
The activities of the project aim at restoring and rehabilitating degraded landscapes in Mau forest ecosystems and empowering the community to tailor efforts towards sustainable eco-friendly activities.
Also present was Kenya Forest Service and Community Forest Association.