How community-led restoration is bringing back Dundori Forest

French Ambassador to Kenya Wadid Benaabou (centre) plants a tree with partners at Dundori Forest, Nakuru County, following the handover of restored forestland under Phase II of the Mau Reforestation Project. [Kipsang Joseph, Standard]

It is mid-morning on the slopes of the Kirima block in Dundori Forest.

A group of women move in single file along a narrow track, balancing baskets containing indigenous tree seedlings on their backs.

They head toward a new restoration site. Their goal is to restore 150,000 acres of Dundori forest.

Dundori forest is a critical block within the larger Mau Complex, Eastern Africa’s largest closed-canopy forest.

French Ambassador to Kenya Wadid Benaabou, with partners at Dundori Forest, Nakuru County, following the handover of restored forestland under Phase II of the Mau Reforestation Project. [Kipsang Joseph, Standard]

For decades, forest blocks in Mau, like Dundori, have borne the brunt of human encroachment, illegal grazing, and unsustainable cultivation.

However, the story is slowly changing as local communities and global partners work together to restore degraded forests.

In Kirima block, a women-led Wezesha community-based organisation is working to re-establish the lost indigenous forests that sustain rivers within Nakuru.

“Dundori is one of the forests that keeps many rivers flowing in Nakuru. However, it has continued to face immense pressures.

As a women-led organisation, we decided to take it upon ourselves to plant indigenous trees and bring back the biodiversity and rivers that were already drying up.” Dr Redempta Mutisya, the founder of Wezesha Community-Based Organisation, said.

French Ambassador to Kenya Wadid Benaabou (centre) plants a tree with partners at Dundori Forest, Nakuru County, following the handover of restored forestland under Phase II of the Mau Reforestation Project. [Kipsang Joseph, Standard]

The organisation received funding from TerraFund for AFR100, an initiative co-founded by the World Resources Institute, One Tree Planted, and Realise Impact to restore 150,000 acres in the Dundori Forest.

According to One Tree Planted Africa Project Manager John Ngahu, the Mau Forest is one of the largest remaining closed-canopy forests in the region and continues to face various pressures.

“The Mau Forest Complex is not only critical to Kenya. It also sustains transboundary lakes such as Lake Victoria, a shared resource. However, the forest has been shrinking due to unsustainable logging, encroachment, and other human activities.

To ensure that we sustain immense biodiversity in the region, we have to support conservation and restoration activities across this critical water tower,” Ngahu said.

Restoration activities in Dundori and the Mau Forest Water Tower at large currently involve many stakeholders, including government institutions, development partners, civil society, and communities.

Earlier this week, the Green Belt Movement handed over 6 hectares of rehabilitated forestland in Dundori Forest to the Kenya Forest Service, following restoration work supported by France through the Agence Française de Développement (AFD).

The handover is part of Phase II of the Mau Reforestation Project, which has restored more than 400 hectares of degraded forest across Dundori, North Nandi and Tinderet. 

Ambassador of France to Kenya, Ambassador Wadid Benaabou, attended the handover of the project, which is financed by AFD through a Sh 191.5 million (1.3M€) grant over a five-year implementation period.

French Ambassador to Kenya Wadid Benaabou plants a tree with partners at Dundori Forest, Nakuru County, following the handover of restored forestland under Phase II of the Mau Reforestation Project. [Kipsang Joseph, Standard]

"Through this project, France confirms its long-term commitment to protect Kenya's forests and empower local communities, predominantly women, whose hands and dedication made this restoration possible.

Growing trees not only preserves critical ecosystems, but it also provides food and water security, energy, resilience and a source of income for communities.

France will continue to support Kenyan authorities, civil society and people's efforts to enhance biodiversity conservation,” said Ambassador Benaabou.

In Dundori, the project has created livelihood opportunities for more than 1,000 households living around the forest, while improving protection of the water catchment, soil conservation, biodiversity and climate resilience.

“A forest is restored by people as much as it is restored by trees. The communities living around our forests understand the value of these ecosystems because their lives and livelihoods are directly connected to them. When communities are given meaningful opportunities to participate, they invest not only their labour but also their knowledge, commitment and sense of ownership in the restoration process,” said Joshua Nzola, Acting Executive Director of the Green Belt Movement.