Reforesting with Drought Tolerant Trees in Kenya

By Shanna Edberg
February 15, 2017

Reforestation efforts in Kenya are being combined with investments in breeding drought-tolerant trees to halt land degradation. The program would restore 5.1 million hectares of degraded or deforested land, and communities living in these lands would receive funds to participate in the rehabilitation process. The program director, James Ndufa, says they “intend to provide farmers with genetically improved seeds that are drought-tolerant, fast growing and produce quality timber in addition to fodder for livestock. This…will eventually aid in rehabilitation of degraded land and conserve biodiversity.”

Climate Protection: Sequesters carbon dioxide Resilience: Enhances resilience to droughts Food & Water: Reduces land degradation; improves fodder for livestock Jobs & Assets: Provides alternate livelihoods Connection: Gives people the ability to participate in preserving their local environment

This post is part of a series on examples of multisolving, or climate-smart policies that simultaneously work to mitigate climate change while providing co-benefits such as the ones described above. The multiple benefits analysis was done using the FLOWER framework.