Local | PANORAMA

West and Central Africa

Climate mitigation using renewable energy through participatory approaches in Bipindi, Cameroon

Nathalie Shérifa

MOLO

Identify the problem in the community with the community leading the process

Creating community led committees to ensure participatory approaches are implemented

Raising awareness about climate mitigation and adaptation

Identifying with the communities strategic locations for solar panel implementation

Development of Community Governance Structures for Sustainable Land Management

Loading seedlings for transportation to planting site at South Kinangop Forest Station by CFA and KFS staff.

NACOFA

CFA members transporting seedlings to riparian restoration sites

NACOFA

This building block focuses on developing and formalizing community governance structures to support sustainable land management. By leveraging networks, we connect various ecosystem management systems across Kenya to align resource management with livelihoods and conservation efforts.

We prioritize understanding the leadership within community groups and work directly with these leaders to engage the broader community. When requested by the community, we help formalize these existing structures to ensure our programs align with the established power dynamics and effectively address community needs.

Restoration agreements serve to formalize relationships with communities, acting as a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to align expectations and build trust among community members.
Government involvement is essential, requiring a direct line of communication with communities to ensure impactful ecosystem restoration.
Facilitating community elections to select leaders responsible for restoration networks empowers the community and ensures accountability.
Adhering to legal requirements in restoration policy that mandate community members to take on governance roles, thereby promoting the development of community institutions.

Building networks helps unite various community governance structures, fostering the sharing of knowledge and aligning efforts.
It is crucial to assess the community's need for governance structure facilitation while respecting existing power dynamics.
Community-driven network development creates a central power structure and formalized forum, ensuring that community concerns are taken seriously. This approach enhances visibility and influence with government stakeholders, strengthening CFAs as central institutions within the conservation framework.

Implementation

Monitoring

Local

Stakeholder Mapping & Engagement

Plant seedlings at Geta Forest Station

NACOFA

A degraded Forest site in Aberdare

NACOFA

To effectively address the degradation of Lake Naivasha, it's essential to understand the activities of other local actors in the area. This building block focuses on stakeholder mapping and engagement, aiming to harmonize efforts, avoid duplication, and identify the key priorities and concerns of different stakeholders. By coordinating actions and aligning objectives, the initiative can more effectively tackle the environmental challenges facing Lake Naivasha.

The mapping exercise must be inclusive, involving all key actors such as development partners, community networks, county governments, and national government bodies.
It is vital for the county government to lead stakeholder efforts, ensuring alignment and understanding across the county. Their leadership is also critical due to the heightened governmental scrutiny on conservation and restoration activities.
Pre-existing strong relationships with key stakeholders make it easier to map, communicate, and address key issues and priorities effectively.

Multi-stakeholder meetings led by the county government are preferred to harmonize restoration issues and efforts across the county.
It may be beneficial to map more NGOs working at the local level, as their integration could provide a better understanding of restoration efforts across Lake Naivasha.
Engaging the broader private sector can be challenging unless there is direct funding support for the program. For example, horticultural institutions involved in flower farming share concerns about lake pollution, which could serve as a potential entry point for future discussions.

Planning phase

Implementation

Local

Community sensitization on environmental issues

Local Community Awareness Forums

NACOFA

Local community awareness forums

NACOFA

This building block focuses on engaging directly with local communities through face-to-face interactions and site visits to every forest block. We worked closely with the community to discuss the impact of forest degradation on agriculture, livelihoods, and the natural environment. On-the-ground visits ensured a deep understanding of the issues and secured community buy-in for the program. These efforts were carried out in partnership with the Kenya Forest Service (KFS), which played a key role in validating and supporting the initiative.

The presence of KFS added significant value to the efforts, especially with the introduction of new forestry laws. It reassured the community that they could co-manage their lands, improving their livelihoods. KFS’s involvement provided a sense of ownership and legitimacy, motivating community participation.
Communicating in the local native language facilitated quicker access to information, better understanding, and more effective implementation of initiatives by the community.
Tailoring direct communication to meet the specific needs of the local community was vital for successful community sensitization and engagement.

Sensitization is an ongoing process. Regular meetings and continuous communication are essential to maintaining open dialogue with local actors. Since policies and legislation are constantly evolving, it’s important to engage and update the community frequently.
Linking partners such as government entities, communities, and CSOs to address local issues increases the success of the programs.
The transition from national to county-level management of land and restoration efforts can present challenges, particularly in resource management. The complexity of working across different levels of government can impact resource management and program implementation.
This building block provides an opportunity to empower communities to take ownership of their land and address environmental issues directly, fostering a sense of responsibility and stewardship.

Inclusive and Participatory Research

Loading seedlings for transportation to planting site at South Kinangop Forest Station by CFA and KFS staff

NACOFA

Monitoring (survival count) of seedlings on restored sites at South Kinangop forest station

NACOFA

The community was directly engaged during this research to gain a clear understanding of the impacts affecting them.

NACOFA and WWF-Kenya recognized the concerns raised by the community, county government, and horticulture industry regarding reduced river flow and water supply to the lake, which threatened their investments and livelihoods. A study was conducted in collaboration with Water Resource User Associations (WRUAs) in the region, revealing that the root cause of the problem was forest and landscape degradation, along with poor farm management practices in riparian areas.

Our strong relationship with WWF Kenya allowed us to integrate their deep understanding of local issues into our research, building on existing knowledge rather than starting from scratch.
Strong relationships and networking with local government and CFAs helped us gain a better understanding of the issues and facilitated greater access to local communities, enabling a more participatory approach in our research.

By improving livelihoods through restoration programs, we found it easier to engage more youth in our research, as they had already benefited directly from these projects.
Securing buy-in from the government and Kenya Forestry Service was simpler because they had previously witnessed the benefits of our initiatives.
We gained an enhanced understanding of the native tree species that are more resilient and grow faster in this specific ecosystem.

Planning phase

Inception phase

Local

East and South Africa

Empowering Communities to Protect and Manage the Lake Naivasha Catchment in Kenya's Aberdare Forest

Yasmin

Kamel

Inclusive and Participatory Research

Community sensitization on environmental issues

Stakeholder Mapping & Engagement

Development of Community Governance Structures for Sustainable Land Management

Monitoring and research

Monitoring of planted seedlings for restoration and conservation purpose

Monitoring and research

Adigla Appolinaire Wedjangnon

Monitoring and evaluation allows us to effectively keep track of how the plants are doing by regulaurly studying the microsite conditions. The purpose is to gather information that helps us understand what works and what needs improvement. Continuous rese

Resource availability: Access to tools, trained personnel, and financial support for effective monitoring is crucial to gather reliable data. A regular data collection and analysis allow us to better appreciate species performances and factors that impact seedlings establishment.

Monitoring and research are important for data sharing. Based on soil properties predominantly related to the African Black Walnut development, our findings shed light on how soil parameters contribute to species distribution at the fine scale. Thus, we found new information concerning the habitat requirements which are quite interesting and valuable for the ex-situ management and conservation of Mansonia altissima.

Monitoring

Local

National

Partnerships: indigenous people and local communities engagement

Indigenous people and local communities engagement in the restoration activities

Some indigenous people engaged in the solution implementation

Adigla Appolinaire Wedjangnon

Collaboration with indigenous people and local communities (IP&LC) and organizations is essential. Through community engagement we are able to mobilise IP&LC in helping to protect the forests and restoration sites and support our efforts. By working together, everyone can contribute to the conservation goals and increase success.

Mutual trust and communication are essential to build strong relationships with IP&LC and organizations for successful restoration actions. IP&LC can include farmers and wildlife wardensm organizations can include forest offices. To build and maintain strong relationships, we have learned that impactful engagement with IP&LC requires developing shared objectives to keep everyone focused and motivated toward common conservation goals.

We faced challenges when trying to engage IP&LC without first understanding their needs and perspectives. Take time to listen and involve them in the process from the beginning to foster better cooperation. Engage with IP&LC through consultations and identification of species that are important for them and can help improveing success.

Implementation

Local

National

Identify and prepare suitable planting microsites, especially protected sites with suitable conditions that can support the species growth

Soil sampling

Adigla Appolinaire Wedjangnon

Soil sampling

Adigla Appolinaire Wedjangnon

The purpose is to find the best locations for planting the seedlings. We look for microsites with suitable biotic and abiotic conditions that will help the plants thrive. Identifying suitable microsites involves performing soil physical and chemical analysis. Preparing these microsites involves clearing weeds and making sure the soil is ready for new plants.

The soil quality and accessibility are important as soil nutrient and permeability state are vital for seedling survival and growth. The microsites should be easily accessible to ensure maintenance activities and monitoring.

Identifying suitable microsites can take time and requires thorough soil analysis. We discovered that not all nutrient-rich areas are easily accessible, so having backup microsites is helpful. Additionally, clearing the microsites effectively is vital to ensure no competing plants hinder seedling growth.

Implementation

Local

National

Seed collection, germination, and seedling production

Samara fruits of Mansonia altissima

Adigla Appolinaire Wedjangnon

Fruits of Mansonia altissima

Adigla Appolinaire Wedjangnon

Seedlings of Mansonia altissima

Adigla Appolinaire Wedjangnon

Making materials avilable to initiatite the restoration and conservation process for the plantation of seedlings. The purpose is to ensure that we have enough young plants for the species introduction into the identified protected forest ecosystems. We collected seeds from the existing population of the target species and sowed them in polyethylene bags filled with forest soil at the forest nursery. This block also focuses on providing the right care and environment for young seedlings to grow strong. It includes watering, protection from pests, and ensuring they get enough sunlight. Healthy seedlings are more likely to survive when planted. We raised the prouted seedlings for six months in field conditions before planting them.

As conditions important for successful seedling production, conservationists need high-quality and healthy seeds, a nursery with poor light-penetrated shading, a permanent water source, containers, and a medium. Establishing a reliable schedule for watering, fertilizing, and monitoring light conditions helps seedlings to grow faster. Regular checks for pests and diseases are necessary to protect seedlings and ensure healthy growth of plants.

Mass production of seedlings for restoration and conservation requires many financial resources and human capital for nursery care. However, this is a way to secure the establishment of planted trees in forest ecosystems. We also learned that seeds of different species may require tailored germination techniques. There is no one-size-fits-all approach to grow seedlings of all species. It is crucial to understand the specific needs of each seed type before starting.

Implementation

Local

National