Rejuvinating the Forests for Mount Kenya.
Hundreds of thousands of Kenyans depend on the Mount Kenya forest for their daily lives, drawing on its resources for food and income. Crops need rain to grow, but droughts have increased in recent years, caused in part by deforestation, which have led to changes in weather patterns. The Mount Kenya forest experienced massive deforestation between the 1960s and the 1990s. It is now protected by law, but it has never regenerated. Kenya has only 7 percent forest cover, down from 18 percent in the early 1960s.
The objective of Forever Green is to help local communities restore their environment by planting trees on Mount Kenya. With a target of 10,000 trees, the program will:
Strengthen food security
Planting trees will enrich and create more fertile soil. Trees will improve irrigation supply, provide shade for crops and in the long-term, increase the harvests of subsistence farmers.
Improve water resources
The restoration of the Mount Kenya forest will increase the volume of water in the surrounding rivers. The organic activity in an established forest will assist in recharging underground water tables.
Establish habitats for biodiversity
A mature forest will increase the presence of wildlife. Elephants, monkeys and zebras, which have left Mount Kenya, will return to find sources of food, water and habitat.
