Forest cover in Kenya has decreased from 20 percent to 2.4 percent in less than 100 years, and the country’s remaining forests are increasingly threatened by demands for wood fuel, charcoal, building materials and land for cultivation.

Kenya’s Wangari Maathai of the Greenbelt Movement recognized this long ago. The Nature Conservancy’s Adam Whelchel worked with the Greenbelt Movement to prioritize its tree-planting and community empowerment efforts and focus its re-plantings on the sites that would produce the greatest rewards.

Dig Deeper …

• Learn more about the project in Africa from Adam’s perspective. Read Adam’s story.
• Read the report for an inside look into the process and challenges of developing and implementing watershed management and forest conservation in Kenya.
• Follow the project through a photo slideshow.
• Watch a video of planting trees with the Greenbelt Movement.
• The Greenbelt Movement was a key piece of this project. Learn More About the Greenbelt Movement.
• Learn more about Encompassing Watershed-Wide Planning with the Greenbelt Movement.
• Read more about forest conservation in Kenya.
• Learn about other conservancy initiatives in Africa.
   

Adam Whelchel, Ph.D. is the director of conservation programs for the Connecticut Chapter of the Conservancy based in New Haven, Connecticut.

Image credit: © Adam Whelchel/TNC