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Kenya is facing its worst drought in 40 years. Years of insufficient rainfall, poor farming and land-management practices, overgrazing and ongoing desertification have led to land degradation and water scarcity, putting a large portion of the population at risk of starvation.
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Fortunately, trees can help! Not only do trees remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, but they can also help fight desertification. And this is precisely what JUST ONE Tree has been doing in Kenya.
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We identified Lusoi Hill, an area between Mount Kenya and the Aberdares National Park, as an ideal location for planting trees. Previously, a thriving natural forest teeming with wildlife such as elephants, buffalo, zebras, and antelopes, Lusoi Hill is now deserted and in desperate need of reforestation. The once lush forest has been completely destroyed and the soil has eroded away.
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Can trees really make it rain?
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Forests are crucial to regulating the Earth's climate and reversing desertification. They absorb and release water into the atmosphere through their leaves which can lead to cloud formation and eventually rainfall.
Trees also slow evaporation, work to clean water supplies, and prevent soil erosion, all of which transforms arid land. |
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However, our hope to restore Lusoi Hill to its formerly lush and verdant state was not without challenges.
Sadly, Mother Nature had other plans for Lusoi Hill and, in 2022, the area suffered a severe drought, meaning the parched soil would make an unhappy home for young tree roots. Globally, humans are not planting enough trees to mitigate climate change, making it even more crucial that every tree we do plant has not only the best chance to survive but to thrive. With JOT's agility and readiness to overcome obstacles, we quickly identified a new location to continue our mission.
So where next?
During the period that Lusoi Hill experienced this significant drought, Embu County, another area in Kenya, thankfully received enough rainfall to make it a better place to plant seedlings. So we switched our focus to here and started two new projects, one in Embu and one in nearby Gilgil, helping local communities in the process.
While the Lusoi Hill project planned to plant a forest that relied on natural rainfall to water the trees, the new projects had a different plan. One was to empower community livelihoods through planting high value fruit trees on their farms, boosting both community income and health. Local community members were able to water the new trees during the dry season and, to mitigate water shortages during these periods, we provided two 10,000 litres storage tanks to store rainwater.
The second project in Gilgil, involved 23 schools; with this many local people there was never a shortage of helping hands to water the trees when needed. Teachers assisted with training and demonstrations and over 1,000 school children helped plant and take care of the trees in their school grounds. Additionally, each student was educated about the environment, tree planting, aftercare and conservation, and picked two extra saplings to plant in their own homes.
Here, at JUST ONE Tree, we are determined to bring trees back to the Lusoi Hills when the conditions are right, because more trees mean more rain, and more rain means more trees, more water and more food.
As they sing in Kenyan songs, "Kothbiro!" Rain is coming!
As they sing in Kenyan songs, "Kothbiro!" Rain is coming!
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