Rehabilitation/ Restoration of degraded land in Kenya
Paper presented to Technical Workshop on Great Green Wall & Drylands Restoration in Eastern Africa,
Nairobi-Kenya Feb 22-24 2016 Gabriel M. Muturi
Natural factors …… or
Anthropogenic factors
Land Degradation in Kenya
Sahelian droughts of 1970s
Alarming human and livestock mortality
Vegetation
variable
Distance from Kakuma Refugee Camp (Km)
1 2 3 4 5 6
Tree Cover % 6.2 18.8 28.7 35.7 53.0 57.7
Shrub cover % 0.9a 6.9 9.8 3.5 7.9 4.0
Herb cover % 68.0 59.7 56.4 41.6 38.4 45.4
Okoti et al.2004
Human induced degradation
Since 1986, KEFRI has engaged in development of drylands forestry technologies for land rehabilitation
1. Species screening for diverse dry ecological zones in the country
2. Assessing potential for unaided vegetation recovery in drylands
3. Reseeding and afforestation
Afforestation • Species screening >>Drought tolerant species
• Water harvesting
• Water holding polymer / Charcoal dust
Trees establish
Herbs regenerate
Tree establishment
8
Reforestation /Afforestation
Bush clearing Ripping Terracing
Melia volkensii plantation in drylnads of Kenya
Ecological restoration in Prosopis invaded areas
0
1
2
3
4
5
Control Four Six Eight Ten
Spacing (Nearest Square m)
% H
erb
aceo
us
Gro
un
d C
ove
r
20092010
Charcoal
Indigenous species regenerate in reclaimed areas or other plants can be planted
Emerging trends
In 2004, income at Marigat was
estimated at 1,021 US$
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
An
nu
al In
com
e (0
00
’ US$
) Year
Baringo
Tana River
Garissa
Charcoal incomes
Cummins Co-Generation
2 Billion KShs, 80,000 tons/yr, 2 Shs/ Kg Prosopis
Gulley healing
Aloe planting/ Grass Reseeding
•Aloe planting
•Grass reseeding
Differing land utilization & Grass reseeding
Pastoralism thrived on transhumance; with sedentarization there is localized overexploitation leading to degradation
Impact
Operation scale for realistic impacts??
Kigomo and Muturi 2013,
Muturi et al 2014
THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION