Guardians of Nature and People: Reforestation & Agroforestry in Maasai Mau

Join us as we restore one of Kenya’s water tower.

Kenya’s Mau Forest Complex is one of the country’s most critical water towers, giving life to the rivers that support the vast ecosystems of Lake Victoria, the iconic Maasai Mara, and the Loita Hills. Since the 1970s, it is estimated that Mau has lost an estimated 100,000 hectares of forest. Maasai Mau, one of Mau’s many forest blocks, has lost over 30,000 hectares alone in that same period. In Mau, GNP partners with the Nkoben and Tendwet Community Forest Associations (CFAs) and Kenya Forest Service to restore Maasai Mau’s degraded forests and promote agroforestry in communities neighboring the forest. With your support, by the end of 2028, GNP aims to:

• Bring 800 hectares of degraded forest under restoration
• Plant, maintain, and monitor 1,280,000 indigenous trees
• Support CFA tree nurseries through tree purchases
• Collaborate with farmers across 40 hectares in communities near the Mau Forest Complex to implement agroforestry and climate-smart agriculture methods
• Protect reforested areas from grazing through forest scouts
• Train community members on nursery production, reforestation, and monitoring techniques
• Create over 10,000 days of employment for rural communities near the forest

With GNP, you’re supporting real people impacting the places that matter to them. We invite you to join us on this journey.

Landscape view at Nkoben, on the edge of the Mau Forest Complex.

The Problem and the Opportunity

The Maasai Mau section of the Mau Forest Complex has experienced severe deforestation due to agricultural encroachment, unsustainable resource use, and illegal logging. According to Global Forest Watch, the area has lost 10,000 hectares of tree cover since 2001 alone. This has resulted in the loss of forest connectivity, declining biodiversity, reduced watershed functionality, and increased vulnerability of local communities that depend on the forest for ecosystem services and livelihoods. The degradation has also contributed to declining river flows, reduced agricultural productivity, and increased exposure to climate-related risks.

Despite these challenges, communities living near the Maasai Mau are ready for restoration. GNP works in partnership with local Community Forest Associations (CFAs) to restore degraded land through reforestation and agroforestry. In Kenya, Community Forest Associations are community-based organizations that have the constitutional right to steward forest resources. Through GNP’s community-led approach, the organization brings technical expertise and sustainable livelihood interventions that enhance restoration efforts by CFAs in Maasai Mau. By strengthening community participation, promoting agroforestry, and supporting long-term stewardship of natural resources, the program seeks to restore ecosystem functions while improving the resilience and well-being of households living adjacent to the forest.

In the Mau’s vast landscape, donkeys deliver trees where trucks cannot.

Holistic restoration with GNP

GNP’s restoration strategy considers the landscape as a whole, combining reforestation activities within the Mau Forest protected area with agroforestry activities on nearby farms. In doing so, the program aims to increase forest cover across the landscape and ensure that agricultural landscapes not only provide a wide variety of produce and income for farmers, but also contribute to the vital ecosystem services that this landscape provides. 

GNP implements an inclusive, community-led restoration approach that combines scientific restoration principles with local knowledge of the forest to achieve sustainable ecosystem recovery in the Maasai Mau landscape. Here, community drives the restoration process through GNP’s collaboration with the Nkoben and Tendwet Community Forest Associations. From restoration site selection, nursery management, seedling production, site preparation, tree planting, maintenance, and long-term monitoring, our CFA partners bring unparalleled knowledge of the local landscape that improves restoration outcomes. GNP works with CFAs to ensure that women and youth are intentionally included in program employment, training, and decision-making, strengthening local capacity in nursery management and restoration techniques.

Within the protected area of the project, we plant only indigenous tree species sourced from seed from the broader Mau landscape. Due to the level of degradation in the Maasai Mau, tree planting today helps restore soils, improve seed dispersal, and create microclimates that allow the forest to thrive in the future.

On farms, we work to strengthen livelihoods while reducing pressure on natural forests by supporting farmers to integrate indigenous and multipurpose tree species into agricultural landscapes, providing sustainable sources of timber, fodder, fruit, fuelwood, and shade while improving soil fertility, water retention, and overall farm productivity. In doing so, we are also improving tree cover in the broader landscape, creating connectivity for the Mau’s incredible biodiversity and supporting the critical ecosystem services the landscape provides. Agroforestry also enhances climate resilience by diversifying farm production systems, improving soil health, and increasing the capacity of farms to withstand climate-related stresses such as drought and erratic rainfall.

Our track record

GNP has a proven track record in community-led restoration within the Maasai Mau landscape. To-date, the program has planted 239,000+ indigenous tree seedlings purchased from CFA nurseries, creating roughly 2,700 days of employment.

Your donation enables local restoration action in critical landscapes. From the heart of Maasai Mau, we say “Asante” (thank you)!