Why this project?

Old Bonjoge Forest covers 2,150 hectares on the Nandi Escarpment above Kisumu, Kenya's third largest city. It is the only substantial woodland near the metropolitan area, which is why EarthLungs describes it as the city's lungs, and it is a watershed draining into Lake Victoria that supplies drinking water to the surrounding communities. Both of those functions are under pressure. Large parts of the forest have been cleared to make room for a fast-growing population, the remaining stands have been overharvested for charcoal and fuelwood, and much of the exposed ground is now overrun with invasive species.

Together with veritree and planting partner EarthLungs Reforestation Foundation, we are restoring the forest and its watersheds so that Kisumu keeps its clean air and clean water. The work starts with community-run nurseries producing indigenous seedlings, and includes fruit and bamboo trees that give the surrounding households something to harvest and sell. Restoring the canopy protects the water. Giving people an income from a standing forest is what keeps it standing.

Impact on Local communities

Lake Victoria is Africa's largest lake and the second largest freshwater lake in the world, and the rivers running off the Nandi Escarpment feed it. When the forest cover on that escarpment goes, the water quality and flow reaching Kisumu go with it. Restoring the canopy at Bonjoge is watershed management as much as it is reforestation.

The economics of charcoal are what put the forest at risk, so the project works on those directly. Alongside planting, EarthLungs has established beehives in the Bonjoge forest through the Pollinate and Protect programme. Honey, beeswax and other by-products give households a revenue stream that depends on the forest staying intact, and one that continues after planting activity at a given site finishes. Bees pollinate the recovering forest at the same time. EarthLungs also provides long-term employment and health insurance to the people doing the work, which is unusual in restoration and one of the reasons we selected them as a partner.

The socio-economic effects reach further than the planting sites. When veritree's team first surveyed Bonjoge, they found that community members had to cross a fast-flowing river every day to reach town, school and market. In the two preceding months, in dry season, five people had been swept away by the current and one had died. Corporate investment in the restoration of Old Bonjoge Forest allowed the community to fund new infrastructure, including a new bridge across that river. Ecologists talk about restoration reconnecting fragmented landscapes. At Bonjoge it reconnected the people living on either side of the water.

What the reforestation efforts focus on

Protecting Kisumu's water supply: restoring canopy cover on the watershed that drains into Lake Victoria and supplies drinking water to neighbouring communities.

• Rebuilding indigenous forest cover: community-run nurseries produce indigenous seedlings to replace cleared and overharvested stands and to suppress invasive species.

• Food security and household income: fruit and bamboo trees give surrounding households something to harvest, eat and sell.

• An alternative to charcoal: beehives established through the Pollinate and Protect programme generate honey and beeswax revenue that depends on the forest remaining standing.

• Stable local employment: EarthLungs provides long-term employment and health insurance to the planting teams, not seasonal day labour alone.

• Monitoring progress with technology: every planting event is recorded on the veritree platform with geospatial data layers tracking land use and canopy recovery.