Restored Mount Kenya Ecosystems Where People and Nature Coexist

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Mount Kenya Trust (MKT) proposes the Mount Kenya Forest Landscape Restoration Programme (FLRP), a five-year, integrated initiative targeting the recovery of degraded forest, protecting existing forest and regenerating farmland across the 2,100 km² Mount Kenya Biosphere Reserve, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of Kenya’s five critical water towers.

The programme operates across three interconnected zones: active forest restoration in the buffer zone through the proven agroforestry Trees Establishment Livelihood Improvement Scheme, a participatory model working alongside Kenya Forest Service and Community Forest Associations; climate-smart agroforestry and livelihood enterprise development in transition-zone smallholder farms; and strengthened frontline forest and wildlife protection, forest fire mitigation and prevention, sustainable forest governance, and institutional capacity across the landscape. These form a unified, scalable response to forest degradation and protection while addressing linked drivers. 

For livelihoods and nature-based enterprises, the investment case is compelling. For every USD 1 invested in community-based forest restoration in the Mt. Kenya landscape, up to USD 25–39 in household income is generated, thereby offering sustainable livelihood solutions for over 8 years while delivering quantified gains in carbon storage, biodiversity, water regulation, and community resilience. A study published by Springer Nature on 6th May 2025 projects that, without intervention, 49–55% of Mt. Kenya’s vegetation cover will be lost by 2040. Intervention at this scale is urgent. 

MKT is currently raising USD 10 million through donations and partnership investments over five years to restore 3,500 hectares in both the forest buffer and transition zones, protect over 270,000 hectares of forest habitat from further degradation, and enhance the structures, systems, knowledge and livelihoods that catalyse this success and long-term sustainability, including monitoring systems and collaboration. 26,2010 households will directly benefit from the project livelihood component, while 3.5 million people will benefit from secured and restored ecosystems. 

MOUNT KENYA TRUST

MKT is the leading NGO dedicated to conserving and restoring the forests of Mount Kenya, one of Kenya’s most vital ecosystems and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. As a key partner in forest conservation, MKT safeguards this critical watershed, ensuring its resilience for people and nature. What sets MKT apart is its collaborative, community-driven approach. By working closely with government agencies, local communities, and conservation partners. MKT combines bold, innovative strategies with on-the-ground action to protect essential habitats while promoting sustainable livelihoods.

Mission: To sustainably conserve Mount Kenya ecosystems.

Vision: A healthy Mount Kenya ecosystem where communities, forest and wildlife coexist harmoniously. 

THE PROBLEM – A WORLD HERITAGE SITE WITH COMPLEX CHALLENGES

The Mount Kenya Man and Biosphere Reserve is a living landscape that sustains the lives of over 3.5 million people and thousands of biodiverse species. Its Natural Forest is a UNESCO World Heritage Site recognised in 1997 as a designated natural site with Mount Kenya, the second-highest mountain in Africa, at its centre.

The area’s ecological and socio-economic setting is proof that man and nature can thrive and coexist and a warning that when this relationship breaks down, both pay the price.

Ecological Degradation

A 2025 peer-reviewed study published in ScienceDirect quantified that closed forest in the Mount Kenya Ecosystem declined by 141.55 km² between 2000 and 2023, while cropland expanded by 218 km² and bare land by 290 km². Under a business-as-usual scenario, projections indicate a further loss of 423 km² of closed forest by 2035. A separate modelling study found that climate change and human pressure combined will eliminate 49–55% of Mt. Kenya’s vegetation cover by 2040. Over 6,000 hectares of forest within the Mt. Kenya ecosystems have been identified as in urgent need of active restoration. Across Kenya, over 375,000 hectares of tree cover were lost between 2001 and 2022 (Global Forest Watch), with approximately 1,200 hectares of forest cover lost annually in the Mt. Kenya ecosystem alone.

Forest fires are an acute, rapidly intensifying threat that compounds all other drivers of ecosystem loss. Climate change is extending dry seasons and increasing the frequency of extreme fire weather across the Mt. Kenya highlands. In 2019, a single moorland fire destroyed an estimated 20,000 hectares, one of the most devastating events in the mountain’s recorded history. Fires are preventable and manageable with the right infrastructure, community capacity and early warning systems. Without dedicated fire management integrated into the programme, the trees planted today, the forests recovered, and those that have existed over the years remain acutely vulnerable to a single dry-season event.

Socio-Economic Pressure

Approximately 400,000 people (80,000 households) live within 1.5 kilometres of the forest boundary. These communities depend on rain-fed smallholder agriculture for 80–90% of their income, cultivating maize, potatoes and beans on plots of 0.5–5 hectares. Declining soil fertility, erratic rainfall, weak market linkages and high post-harvest losses have compressed household incomes and driven chronically high poverty rates, especially among women and youth. As agricultural returns fall, households increasingly rely on charcoal production, illegal logging and land encroachment to survive, accelerating the very degradation that undermines their long-term livelihoods. This is the defining vicious cycle of the Mt. Kenya landscape, and it is the cycle this programme is designed to break.

STRATEGIC OPPORTUNITY AND ALIGNMENT

Kenya has committed under the Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) to restore 30% of degraded ecosystems by 2030, and under its NDC to significantly enhance forest carbon stocks. Mt. Kenya is identified in national frameworks as a priority restoration landscape. MKT’s 25-year presence, its established community networks, proven restoration models, and government partnerships position it uniquely to deliver at the landscape scale within this policy window.

The FLRP aligns directly with Kenya’s constitutional commitment to 10% forest cover by 2030, its NDC commitments under the Paris Agreement, and the Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) 30x30 target. It contributes to the Bonn Challenge and AFR100 goals, as well as to the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (2021–2030). It is consistent with the Mt. Kenya Biosphere Reserve management framework and Kenya’s Forest Conservation and Management Act (2016).

The programme directly advances biodiversity conservation, habitat connectivity (elephant corridor and buffer restoration), and community stewardship of a globally significant ecosystem. The programme also delivers measurable, verifiable socio-economic returns alongside environmental impact, with the TELIS model providing a replicable, scalable proof of concept, demonstrating 1:25 financial returns and a pathway to carbon and nature finance.

MOUNT KENYA FOREST LANDSCAPE RESTORATION PROGRAMME

The FLRP applies an integrated Forest Landscape Restoration (FLR) framework as defined by IUCN and endorsed by the Global Partnership on FLR, operating simultaneously across three landscape zones. Rather than sequential implementation, the three pillars are designed to reinforce each other: restored forests buffer wildlife corridors; agroforestry in transition zones reduces pressure on the buffer by addressing drivers; and strengthened governance and protection safeguard the whole and are a key to the programme’s sustainability and scale-up. Communities are at the centre of all three.

Forest Buffer Zone: Livelihood-Based Active Restoration 

Restoration of degraded forest in the Mt. Kenya National Reserve and Forest Reserve through the proven TELIS participatory model, in partnership with KFS and 5 CFAs. Developed by MKT in partnership with the Kenya Forest Service, the Tree Establishment and Livelihood Improvement Scheme (TELIS) allows CFA farmers to intercrop food staples alongside indigenous tree seedlings for the first 5-8 years of forest recovery. This dual-use model aligns immediate household food security and cash income with long-term ecological restoration.

 First implemented at Karuri in 2014, our active restoration approach has now been replicated across Ontulili, Marania, and Imenti forests, restoring 3,500 hectares (3.5 million trees). Over the next 5 years, the programme aims to restore 2000 Hectares by 2030 (2 million trees, 100% endemic species, 500 Hectares per year). 24,710 households will benefit through the TELIS scheme.

Transition Zone: Agroforestry With Value Chains

Climate-smart agroforestry on private smallholder farms in the transition zone involves building forest-compatible income streams that reduce pressure on the forest buffer. This intervention will benefit 1,500 smallholder farmers. Agroforestry interventions will build 50 producer groups and 50 Trainers of Trainers (ToTs), introducing climate-smart practices, tree-crop integration, business planning, and governance strengthening. Farmers will diversify their income sources through high-value tree crops, fruits, honey, fodder, and other products, while enhancing soil fertility, sequestering carbon, and increasing resilience to droughts and floods. The project will support 21 community nurseries, many of which are women- and youth-led, to improve seedling supply and create enterprise opportunities to enhance household income by 20%.

Landscape-Wide: Forest Health Protection and Monitoring.

This project will directly support Mount Kenya ranger teams by equipping, sustaining and strengthening the frontline force protecting these critical ecosystems. Rangers will be resourced for daily patrols, wildlife monitoring, wildfire response and community engagement across over 260,000 hectares. Better-equipped rangers mean faster threat response, stronger forest protection and deeper community partnerships that keep both people and nature thriving through coexistence. A sustained ranger force means Mount Kenya's forests recover, wildlife populations grow, and ecosystem degradation is actively reversed. People and wildlife learn to coexist harmoniously across a resilient, thriving landscape. The result is a healthy Mount Kenya ecosystem, one that continues to sustain 3.5 million people, protect irreplaceable biodiversity, and stand as proof that people and nature can thrive together.

IMPACT, OUTCOMES AND EVIDENCE.

The FLRP is designed to deliver four categories of measurable impact across the five-year programme period, with benefits that continue and compound for decades beyond.

Ecological Recovery.

• 3,500 ha of degraded forest and farmland will be restored, 2,000,000 indigenous trees will be planted and nurtured in the buffer zones, and 1,500,000 in farmland. As a result, closed forest cover will be expanded. 
• The forest will be protected from further degradation, and wildlife protection and connectivity will be maintained and enhanced.
• Biodiversity monitoring, governance systems and collaboration strategies will also be enhanced.  
• In the long run, improved water infiltration and riparian stability along four river systems feed 3.5 million people. 
• A reduction of forest fire incidents and damage by 30% through proactive fire management, improved coordination, and community education by 2030.

Livelihood And Nature-Based Enterprises.

• Household incomes increased by 15–20% for 26,210 direct farmer beneficiaries, and 52,420 people indirectly benefited. 
• USD 1.25 million+ in new community income generated over 8 years.

Climate Resilience.

• 100,000+ tonnes CO₂ sequestered over programme life. 
• Soil moisture retention will improve, and agricultural productivity will be stabilised against climate variability.
• The foundation will be  established for verified carbon finance 

PROGRAMME INVESTMENT CASE WITH EVIDENCE

The economic and ecological case for this programme is supported by a growing body of independent evidence. WRI estimates that restoring 100 million degraded hectares in Africa could generate USD 700 billion in economic value from an investment of USD 100 billion, a 7:1 return at the landscape scale. MKT’s community-based model consistently outperforms this baseline year after year.  MKT’s internal analysis demonstrates that every USD 1 invested via yields up to USD 25 in farmer household income over eight years through food production, employment, and improved land productivity. Peer-reviewed research (ScienceDirect, 2025) projects that the closed forest in the Mt. Kenya Ecosystem will decline by a further 423 km² by 2035 without active intervention. 

The cost of inaction in water security, biodiversity loss, and agricultural collapse vastly exceeds the cost of restoration. IUCN and WRI evidence confirms that agroforestry systems minimise trade-offs between economic returns and ecological restoration, generating jobs and income while simultaneously improving soils, water retention, carbon sequestration, and biodiversity. 

Kenya has over 6,000 hectares of forest in the Mt. Kenya ecosystem in urgent need of active restoration (BirdLife/Nature Kenya, 2024), of which MKT’s FLRP will address 3,500 ha over five years.

•  FINANCIALS

The FLRP is structured as a five-year programme (2026–2030) with three interconnected work packages operating concurrently from Year 1 to 5  and directly aligns with our strategic plan 2026-2030. MKT is currently raising USD 10 million through donations and partnership investments over five years to restore 3,500 hectares in both the forest buffer and transition zones, protecting over 270,000 hectares. The programme is designed for tiered partnership investors who may co-fund at the whole-programme level or as dedicated zones or thematic partners. 

MKT welcomes the opportunity to discuss partnership at the programme level or as a dedicated zone or thematic partner. A full proposal, including detailed budgets, monitoring frameworks, and technical annexes, will be provided upon request.