Green Belt Movement made another achievement by signing the 1st BioCarbon agreement with the Government of Kenya and communities at the Karura Forest headquarters on the 28th of June 2007.

“This is the first agreement that the Government of Kenya was signing with a Non Governmental Organisation (NGO), “Says Mr. D.K. Mbugua, Director of the Kenya Forest Service.

The signing was between the Community Forest Associations (CFA) that are affiliated to the Green Belt Movement (GBM) and the Kenya Forest Service (KF. They signed what is referred to as Community Forest Management Agreements.

The agreements are aimed at providing CFAs with exclusive user rights for all non-wood forest products. Together with the KFS they will manage the forest on a sustainable basis for forest conservation as provided in the new Forest Act 2005

Present at the occasion was Prof. in her capacity as the founder of the Green Belt Movement, representatives from KFS, communities and environment management circles.

This pilot project in Kenya on community based forest restoration and carbon sequestration aims to rehabilitate and conserve forests and to provide related environmental services like the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. The project was developed and will be implemented jointly by the Green Belt Movement and the KFS considering the emission trading mechanisms of the Clean Development Mechanism under the Kyoto Protocol.

The project operates in 9 project sites covering an area of 2,000ha in the Aberdares and Mt. Kenya, two of Kenya’s five “water towers” providing water to millions of people in Nairobi. In 2007 and 2008 GBM networks - mainly women groups - will reforest grassland areas within gazetted forests with indigenous tree species.

The Community Associations will assign the rights for the certified emission reductions to GBM in return they will receive support to reforest the project site and will benefit from sustainable development activities aiming to accelerate the socio-economic development of the project area and in particular providing income generation opportunities for women and the Youths.

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