TRI Kenya (Tana Delta)

In the biodiverse Tana Delta of Kenya amongst the Lamu Counties, the Restoration Initiative (TRI) is making significant strides to restore degraded landscapes and support sustainable livelihoods. This critical area, which provides essential ecosystem services and supports local communities, faces threats from unsustainable resource use. TRI’s project focuses on integrated natural resource management, promoting sustainable land use, and developing green value chains. 

The Tana Delta, Kenya’s largest delta and the second largest in East Africa, is a critical area for biodiversity and local livelihoods. However, unsustainable resource use has led to significant degradation. TRI’s project in the Tana Delta focuses on integrated natural resource management, promoting sustainable land use, and developing green value chains. The project builds on a land-use plan developed with local community participation, identifying priority areas for restoration and sustainable management.

Progress and Key Achievements

The Tana Delta TRI project has brought 60,299 hectares of land under restoration and 116,000 hectares of land under improved management, which has drastically enhanced the ecological health of the region. Local communities have been significantly impacted, with 85,464 direct beneficiaries experiencing upliftment through various training sessions and capacity-building activities. Moreover, the project facilitated investments in green value chains that boost household income and provide an alternative livelihood. Eleven functional cooperatives for six value chains have been established to scale up production of honey, milk, poultry products, chilli, sesame (sim-sim) and sunflower, with six business plans developed. In total, 5,045 households (2,369 males 2,674 females) benefited from nature-based livelihoods, earning US$ 280,223. In addition, products valued at US$ 460,077 were consumed at the household level.… Read the rest

The economy and livelihoods of communities in the Tana Delta largely depend on natural resources derived from wetlands, rangelands, forests and farmland. Restoration and sustainable management of these resources are therefore critical, given their crucial role in sustaining life-support systems and powering the economy.

Since 2022, the TRI Tana Delta project has supported communities in making notable progress in integrated natural resource management and restoring degraded landscapes. A significant achievement is local communities’ enhanced resilience to climate change’s adverse effects, partly due to their access to restoration and green value chain development benefits.  

Overgrazing caused by overstocking is one of the drivers of degradation in the Tana Delta. The establishment of pasture seedbanks supports the local community in growing and managing their pasture to ensure sufficient supply during drought. Pasture seedbanks have multiple benefits: the restored grass sequesters carbon, besides supporting livestock production. It also helps bind soil, enhancing water infiltration and soil organic matter. Biodiversity, such as grassland birds, has increased on lands where pasture has been re-established. The pasture seedbanks contributed to reducing drought severity in 2022 in the Tana Delta Region of Kenya. 

Between July 2023 and May 2024, an additional 106.5 ha of pasture seed bank was established by 275 beneficiaries, bringing the cumulative figure of land under pasture seedbanks to 561.48 ha.

Management of the planted pastures is done by beneficiaries who treat them as a crop and make efforts to secure them from free-ranging livestock.… Read the rest