With global warming becoming a more imminent threat, trees and other vegetation remain among our best defense mechanisms. Trees’ ability to absorb greenhouse gases emitted by automobiles, factories, and power plants result in a significant reduction in global climates.
As part of the Wildlife Works community empowerment programs, we encourage farmers around the Kasigau Corridor REDD+ Project to grow and nurture seedlings, which are then sold to our greenhouse team at an average price of ten shillings (12 cents) per seedling. These are then brought back to the Wildlife Works greenhouse facility to be grown until they reach a suitable size for replanting.
Part of the tree seedlings that the WW greenhouse team purchased from the community
This seedling collection happens at the end of most rainy seasons, when the greenhouse team travels to all areas that border our Carbon Project area (Kasigau Corridor REDD+ Project) to purchase the seedlings from farmers. Led by greenhouse supervisor, Willy Kanyeki, the team hit the road in January and was able to purchase 25,000 tree seedlings valued at approximately $5,000 from 61 farmers around our project area.
Lush green and healthy saplings
“We receive the tree seedlings when most of them are in a very poorly state,” Willy Kanyeki explains. “The first thing we do when we receive the tree seedlings is replant them with soil that has been nourished with manure. We prune the roots of the seedlings that have overgrown roots and also recondition all the seedlings to adapt to the harsh climatic conditions experienced here.”
The WW greenhouse team inspecting tree saplings from the community
It is imperative that we collect seedlings from farmers during early stages, as this is when they are in critical need of large amounts of water that is not readily available to many farmers in the community. After the trees have been looked after for 9 to 10 months in the greenhouse, they are finally redistributed for free in schools, women’s groups, hospitals and to other interested members of the community for planting during the rainy season.
Farmers watch as the WW greenhouse team inspects the tree saplings available for purchase
According to Kanyeki, the trees collected from the farmers indicate their full commitment to reforestation. “We have seen diversity in the species of saplings that the farmers invested in this time round. Most of the trees are the beautiful kind that have a bigger shade, and we believe that when we redistribute them for planting, the shade factor will motivate the caretakers to nurture them to maturity,” he says.
Everyone has a role to play in conserving the environment. These young children are helping their parents assemble seedlings
In a region as arid as the Kasigau Corridor, reforestation is having an increasingly positive impact on the community. The trees provide shade and cool the high temperatures in homes as well as preventing soil erosion from strong winds. Our process of buying tree seedlings, nurturing them, and dispersing them out for replanting, not only provides families around our project area with a supplementary source of income every year, but is also a vital aspect of Wildlife Works’ reforestation efforts.
The greenhouse team loads tree saplings on the truck that was used to transport them to the base station at Rukinga.
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Wildlife Works is the world’s leading REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation), project development and management company with an effective approach to applying innovative market based solutions to the conservation of biodiversity. REDD+ was originated by the United Nations (UN) to help stop the destruction of the world’s forests.
Over a 15 year history Wildlife Works established a successful model that uses the emerging marketplace for REDD+ Carbon Offsets to protect threatened forests, wildlife, and communities.
The company helps local landowners in the developing world monetize their forest and biodiversity assets whether they are governments, communities, ownership groups, or private individuals.
