• What started as a group effort to find a solution to deforestation has seen a rural community in Kenya successfully regenerate 50% of their once denuded forest by planting at least 300,000 trees in just five years.
• The efforts of the Mirema Community Forest Association (CFA) caught the attention of the Kenya Forest Service, which stepped in to offer technical and management support.
• Key to the initiative’s success has been the combination of natural regeneration of existing trees in the forest, and the planting of native, nursery-grown seedlings.
• The KFS says it now expects the entire 810 hectares (2,000 acres) of the Mirema Forest to be restored by 2027, and is working on exporting the community’s methods to other reforestation projects across Kenya.

MIGORI COUNTY, Kenya — On a hot, sunny afternoon, Susan Aluoch is among a group of volunteers preparing a tree nursery in preparation for the upcoming long rains.

Aluoch is a member of the Mirema Community Forest Association (CFA), hailed for its successful reforestation initiative that regenerated the Mirema Forest and drew government attention.

Like other volunteers in the group, Aluoch says she decided to take part in the cause after years of suffering from recurrent floods in the once heavily deforested area.

Five years ago, the 810-hectare (2,000-acre) site that comprises the Mirema Forest was bereft of trees after extensive logging for charcoal in the 1980s and ’90s, according to Michael Onyango, a government forestry officer for Migori county, where the forest is located.

Located some 480 kilometers (300 miles) west of Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, the Mirema Forest is today a lush, green source of the many streams that feed the Kuja River. The river winds its way through the forest before draining into Africa’s largest lake, Victoria.

Edwin Ouma, a member of the Mirema CFA, says the main aim of the community reforestation drive was to protect the community from floods that would inundate nearby farmland and homes after long rains swelled the local streams.

“Long rains came with floods because there were no trees or vegetation to control the speed and flow of water,” he says. “This affected hundreds of families.”

Floods would destroy and sweep away crops, resulting in acute food shortages. Many farmers were forced to rely on government aid.

“I have firsthand experience of what deforestation can do,” Aluoch says. “I have been a victim of floods, drought and hunger. As a mother, I know the pain it can cause.”

The reforestation, management, and protection of the forest has played a big role in reducing the impact of floods in the area, according to Michael Agono, a researcher at Rongo University.

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