Establishing a Biocultural Heritage Territory to protect Kenya's Kaya forests

International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED)

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Abstract: Kenya Forestry Research Institute (KEFRI) in collaboration with the International Institute of Environment and Development (IIED), and with financial support from the UK Darwin Initiative, is implementing the project ‘Establishing a Biocultural Heritage Territory to protect Kenya’s Kaya forests’ in the Rabai Mijikenda community. Rabai sub-county forms part of the Coastal Forests global biodiversity hotspot with a very high level of plant endemicity and is currently under severe threat. The project aims to promote conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity and genetic resources in four sacred Kaya forests (Bomu, Fimboni, Mudzi Muvya and Mudzi Mwiru) and across the landscape, with a particular focus on threatened endemic trees important for livelihoods, the endemic and endangered golden-rumped elephant-shrew, endemic butterflies, indigenous vegetables and traditional crops. It aims to establish a collective Biocultural Heritage Territory governance institution which brings together Rabai’s Kaya elders and village elders and empowers Kaya elders to enforce conservation rules. It also aims to enhance capacity to generate alternative livelihoods, restore endangered trees in Kayas and on-farm, install fuel efficient stoves, and restore agroecological practices. Biocultural Heritage Territories (BCHTs) are self-governed landscapes which protect and revitalise interlinked biodiversity and cultural heritage based on traditional knowledge and customary laws. The Potato Park in the Peruvian Andes is a successful example, which conserves rich Andean crop diversity and wildlife. The project aims to adapt to this model to the Rabai context, as a pilot which can then be scaled out more widely.