When COVID flattened tourism, carbon credit saved these African hills ‘inexperienced’

The pandemic has cost lives. In many places there was also a need for livelihoods.

COVID-19 bans and travel restrictions Crater Ecotourism in Africa Rob the local communities of life support incomes in 2020. As a result, Poaching surged across the continent – driven by desperation for food and income or by profit and exacerbated by weakened enforcement efforts, Experts have said.

The people of Chyulu Hills in southeastern Kenya – supposedly the inspiration for Ernest Hemingway’s “Green Hills of Africa” ​​- could tell a different story, however.

Even as the pandemic spread across Africa last year, local governments and communities in the region were generating enough revenue to hire additional rangers to tackle poaching – and a host of other investments in their own long-term food security, health and health make. Be.

How? By protecting and restoring forests.

Muli and Matasha, Maasai guides who work with the Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust, set off from the cloud forest on the Chyulu Hills on Mount Kilimanjaro. (© Charlie Shoemaker)

In 2017, the Chyulu Hills region was named REDD + project – a United Nations-supported initiative that provides financial incentives for municipalities, regions and countries to keep forests intact and thus prevent the carbon emissions caused by deforestation. The income for the project comes from the sale of Carbon creditsthat represent a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions that countries, companies or individuals can purchase to offset emissions generated elsewhere.

Since its inception, the REDD + project in Chyulu Hills has contributed to conservation and restoration 404,000 hectares (1 million acres) of land that protects iconic species like elephants and rhinos and prevents them from being released from around 37 million tons of carbon emissions. It has also helped boost the local economy. In 2020 alone, carbon sales generated more than $ 3 million.

According to Andrey Arutyunyan, a REDD + manager for MWCT, this steady stream of income from the sale of emission allowances – both before and during the pandemic – was “transformative” for local communities, including indigenous Maasai pastoralists and Kamba farmers.

“In the past, NGOs or other organizations have often come in and tried to tell the communities what they need,” he said.

“The REDD + project in Chyulu Hills is different. The municipalities make the final decisions on how the profits from emission allowances are used based on their priorities. The effects changed life. ”

To provide for their families, many Chyulu Hills people in the past have turned to destructive practices such as slash and burn and poaching.

Fortunately, the REDD + project in Chyulu Hills offered a “sweet” alternative: beekeeping for honey.

“We have worked with communities in the eastern and western regions of Chyulu Hills to help them build their own beekeeping,” said Wilbur Mutua, who leads the beekeeping program for MWCT. “These farms produce honey that people can either sell, use for medicinal purposes, or use to put food on the table for their families. If honey is available here, you know you won’t be sleeping on an empty stomach. “

A colonized beehive founded by MWCT’s beekeeping program and supported by the REDD + Chyulu Hills project (© Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust).

So far, the REDD + project in Chyulu Hills has helped establish more than 630 beehives in the area. In addition to creating jobs for community members – especially women who have historically lacked job opportunities in this region – the rise in pollinators has also helped encourage plant growth on farms and restore them to the surrounding savannahs and forests support.

An added bonus? The bees help reduce human-elephant conflict in the Chyulu Hills.

“Elephants are not big fans of bees. Putting beehives along fences around a farm or house will keep elephants out without harming them,” Mutua said.

Get “trained” in nature conservation

Overcrowded classrooms. Dilapidated bathroom. Dilapidated facilities.

Before the REDD + project began, these were the conditions many children in Chyulu Hills had to suffer from if they wanted an education, explained Charity Lanoi Meitekini, the team leader of the livelihood program at MWCT, which helps women in the area find work and gain financial independence.

“Most schools were densely populated and the students were 50 to one more numerous than the teachers,” she added. “Without sufficient financial resources, the schools simply could not support the number of children willing to learn.”

To fill these gaps, a portion of the proceeds from the sale of REDD + carbon credits was used directly to improve education for the children in Chyulu Hills. Over the past two years, the program has funded the salaries of seven new teachers – along with a new cook, community health worker, and four new cleaners. In addition, funding has helped renovate several schools and build new latrines.

Refurbished school staff quarters in Maralal, Kenya. (© Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust)

For families who could not afford school fees, the program supported full or partial scholarships for more than 400 children in the region.

“All of these efforts were a high priority for the communities,” said Meitekini. “With access to education, students are more likely to achieve their goals.”

And learning wasn’t limited to schools. Community outreach programs and radio broadcasts funded by the REDD + program have helped educate local communities about the importance of nature conservation – for people and the climate.

“REDD + has helped equip local communities with the tools they need to protect nature. It offers alternative livelihoods that do not involve the destruction of forests and helps prepare our youth for the future, ”said Arutyunyan.

“The benefits of this project – especially during the pandemic – show that when you care for nature, nature cares about you.”

Kiley Price is an employee at Conservation International. Would you like to read more stories like this one? Sign up for email updates Here. Donate to Conservation International Here.

Cover picture: The Chyulu Hills (© Charlie Shoemaker for Conservation International)