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Desertification in Kenya resulting from unsustainable development and use of trees for firewood, has caused substantial environmental damage such as Drought, land erosion, dried up river bed due to insufficient amount of rain and lose of wildlife and birds; Social damage such as families going hungry because their crops have failed, villagers having to walk long distance to find water or firewood and villages losing their land to developers.
One woman, Wangari Maathai, decided to empower communities by giving them the tools and knowledge to replant the country with trees creating ʻgreen beltsʼ of forest, especially in the mountain catchment areas where rivers flow from, in order to prevent further environmental damage- soil erosion, loss of biodiversity, clean water. Women are supported through the scheme to nurture seedlings in tree nurseries and planting trees, through a sustainable and viable framework. The long-term vision of the Green Belt movement is to create a movement beyond our 4000 community groups and plant 10 billion trees in Kenya. What started as a simple tree planting programme became a movement that helped bring about democracy in Kenya.
