Indigenous Women Leading Community Restoration and Climate Resilience

Paran Women Group is implementing a community-led ecosystem restoration project across Narok County, with a strong focus on restoration of the Mau Forest ecosystem, Kenya’s largest water tower. The Mau Forest is critical to biodiversity, water security, and the Maasai Mara ecosystem. Yet, years of deforestation, charcoal burning, and unsustainable land use have caused severe environmental degradation, including river drying, biodiversity loss, and increased climate vulnerability for local communities.

Our project mobilizes indigenous women, youth, and local communities to restore degraded ecosystems through indigenous tree planting, restoration of riverbanks, establishment of community tree nurseries, and climate-smart land management practices. Since 2005, we have restored 630 hectares of degraded land and planted 689,234 indigenous trees across degraded forests, schools, farms, and riparian areas. We have also established 53 indigenous tree nurseries with over 1 million seedlings, directly supporting restoration efforts and local livelihoods. Our restoration approach prioritizes indigenous tree species selected by communities to restore biodiversity, medicinal plants, and natural ecosystems. As a result, rivers that previously dried up now maintain more consistent water flow, medicinal plant species have returned, and bird biodiversity has significantly increased in restored areas. The project has directly impacted 5,879 households through environmental conservation training, sustainable grazing, agroforestry, and climate adaptation initiatives.

What makes our project unique is that restoration is fully community-owned and led by indigenous women. By linking conservation with livelihoods through seedling production and sustainable environmental enterprises, we create long-term environmental and economic resilience for vulnerable communities.