News

A new partnership with Crédit Agricole aimed at supporting community-based natural resource management

February 3, 2015

On Tuesday 3rd February 2015, Green Belt Movement’s (GBM) Executive Director Aisha Karanja and a team of GBM Senior Program Officers chaired a forum with Sabine Girardet Mandofia, a Member of Senior Management at Crédit Agricole Suisse Foundation.

The new partnership with Crédit Agricole aims at supporting community-based natural resource management in Kiambu and Nyandarua Counties in the Aberdares.

The project will support these rural communities to conserve and restore 150 ha of their natural ecosystems, provide alternative sources of income and secure future food production. GBM will empower communities with skills that will enhance their entrepreneurial capacities leading to better understanding of markets for farm sourced products.

The two year project will directly impact 2500 households within the Chania watershed. The project will directly benefit these households, who will restore natural resources on their farms, local forests and on riparian reserves, with a special focus on soil, water and diversity of forest tree cover and crops grown.

When the water quality and flow regime are secured within the two counties, it is envisaged that 200,000 locals dependent on the ecosystem will benefit by December 2016.