Off-Setting Project
The Great Rift Valley Project, Kenya
Carbon Footprint is a family company partaking in projects on a personal level. Their mission is to educate and inform about how we can all make the right lifestyle choices, save on waste and make sure that future generations will inherit a world we can be proud of.
Carbon Footprint helps to fund the Great Rift Valley Project, in partnership with Kenya’s Escarpment Environment Conservation Network (ESCONET), geared towards sustainable rehabilitation and management of the natural forest ecosystem. Carbon Footprint aims to raise awareness of ESCONET’s humanitarian project and their funds will help to plant thousands of trees to provide work & wealth to local communities and to help reduce carbon dioxide emissions.
What is ESCONET and why is tree planting in Kenya important?
ESCONET is a Red Cross backed organisation, started in October 2004 which aims to be a leading Community-Based Organisation, mitigating against environmental degradation through the rehabilitation and conservation of the natural ecosystems in the Great Rift Valley area, Kenya.
Over the last few years, the escarpment has been virtually depleted by human effects / poor land management causing loss of forest vegetation cover leading to drying of springs / rivers / streams, soil erosion and emigration of wildlife/birds. ESCONET’s aim is to reverse this. ESCONET is already making a great start and has planted more than 30,000 trees since April 2005, and are aiming to plant substantially more through their new partnership with Carbon Footprint.
As well as protecting our climate, what are the benefits of the ESCONET project?
ESCONET provides substantial benefits to disadvantaged communities, helping to reduce poverty, providing wildlife habitats and creating a brighter future for orphans and people living with HIV / AIDS. How do I know the trees will live a full lifespan?
Survival of the trees is important and to assure this, ESCONET is educating local communities in land & forest management techniques to give them the best chance. Pastoral Maasai – who for a long time grazed their cattle in the forest and cut down and burnt trees for charcoal - are now part of the conservation Association and learning the real value of forestation to their communities. To verify this, Carbon Footprint is having the programme independently inspected to make sure the trees are being appropriately managed to live their natural lifespan and meet biodiversity targets. The first inspection was carried out recently by the British High Commission.
To find out more about Carbon Footprint and The Great Rift Valley Project, click here.
