World Bank & Green Belt Movement Project to Reforest Regions of Kenya

Contacts:

In Nairobi:

Anita Gordon (c) 254 724 234 058 or (c) 1-202-436-4791

Agordon@worldbank.org

In Washington, DC:

Kristyn Schrader  202-458-2736

Kschrader@worldbank.org             

NAIROBI, November 15, 2006--The Kenya Green Belt Movement today signed an emission reductions purchase agreement (ERPA) with the World Bank’s BioCarbon Fund for the Kenya Green Belt Movement Reforestation Project to reforest 1,876 hectares within the Mount Kenya and Aberdares regions of Kenya in 2007 and 2008. From this project, the BioCF will purchase 375,000 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent emission reductions between 2007 and 2017, with a call option to purchase an additional 150,000 tons.

Today’s signing took place on a visit to the Green Belt Movement’s field activities at a project site close to Nairobi by government, development, civil society, private sector, and media representatives participating in the UN’s Climate Change Conference (COP-12) being held this week in Nairobi. They joined Green Belt Movement founder Professor Wangari Maathai to discuss the Green Belt Movement’s tree planting activities as they relate to climate change mitigation, adaptation, and the global carbon market.

“I am happy to be working with the World Bank in a pilot project”, said Green Belt Movement Founder Professor Maathai. “The project will inform grassroots movements and governments on the potential of the carbon market for community-based reforestation and forest protection. We have set some building blocks with this pilot project. We hope that we are showing the way for many more organizations in Africa and beyond to follow.”

The project is operated by Green Belt Movement on behalf of Community Forest Associations (CFAs) in association with the Ministry of Environment and the Natural Resources and Forest Department.

Katherine Sierra, World Bank Vice President for Sustainable Development, joins Nobel Peace Laureate and Green Belt Movement founder Professor Wangari Maathai to plant a tree in honor of the signing of an emission reductions purchase agreement (ERPA) with the World Bank’s BioCarbon Fund for the Kenya Green Belt Movement Reforestation Project to reforest 1,876 hectares within the Mount Kenya and Aberdares regions of Kenya in 2007 and 2008.

“Professor Wangari Maathai and the Green Belt Movement have pioneered community-based reforestation and watershed restoration,” said Katherine Sierra, Vice President for Sustainable Development at the World Bank.   “Now this contract with the BioCarbon Fund will help the Green Belt Movement tap the growing carbon market and secure a sustainable stream of financial resources.”

The lands chosen for the Kenya Green Belt Movement Reforestation Project are in the environmentally sensitive catchment areas of the Tana River within the Aberdare and Mt. Kenya Reserve Forests.  Mt. Kenya and the Aberdares are part of the Afromontane forest located along the African Rift Valley in southern Sudan, Kenya, Uganda, and northern Tanzania.  Originally commercially exploited for timber, and then deforested by local communities, the project areas will be reforested by the project using a mix of fast, medium, and slow growing indigenous species, including Croton, Cedar, Podo, and Camphor.

The reforestation will bring important environmental benefits by reducing the erosion process, protecting the water sources, and regulating water flows. Biodiversity, including plants and fauna, primates, and birds, will also benefit from the re-introduction of a wide range of natural tree species. In addition, the project is a source of employment for local CFAs who will be employed to plant and tend the seedlings during the first two years.  Local farmers will enjoy a direct improvement of their income through the payments for environmental services; local CFAs will be allowed to extract traditional (for example, honey, firewood from deadfall) and medicinal goods from the forest.