Context:
Kenya has a youthful population of approximately 57 million people, with 40.8 per cent under the age of 15, and a median age of 20. At the same time, the country has lost over 1.5 million hectares of forest (tree cover) since 1990, which is over 25 per cent of its entire tree cover. In 2025, the Kenyan tree cover stands at 8.8 per cent of the total land surface. The Kenyan Government’s admirable national benchmark for tree cover is 30 per cent, to be achieved by planting 15 billion trees by 2032. No country in the world has launched such an ambitious and timely initiative. Private sector and civil society support are critical if this is to be achieved. One leading light is the Chandaria Foundation and an innovative scheme it has established. Under this scheme, namely the Tree Nursery Programme, the Foundation has set up tree nurseries in 13 schools across Kenya, often in close collaboration with government agencies and civil society organizations, in particular the Global Peace Foundation, with the aim of growing 1 million trees annually. If this greening of Kenya is to be sustained, it will be delivered by the youth, given their number, energy and interest in a sustainable future. In recognizing this, along with the perilous decrease in tree cover, the Tree Nursery Programme works to increase forest cover through youth and community engagement mainly within schools. The design of the programme not only benefits the environment and education of the schools and communities, it also provides a basic financial incentive for the students, schools, private sector and communities, to grow trees, and sustain the programme. It is through this innovative combination that an increasing demand for tree growing will be met, and greater forest cover will be delivered.
Implementation of programme / initiative:
The Chandaria Foundation is a privately owned charitable organization and a member of Impact Philanthropy Africa. Its objectives include supporting education, healthcare, the environment, youth and special needs. The Foundation’s Tree Nursery programme in Kenya combines promoting youth involvement in protecting the environment and supporting education. This is being done through the establishment of tree nurseries at 15 institutions (13 of which are schools), spread across 12 of the 47 counties of Kenya. The Foundation has donated to each of these institutions, a tree nursery or more, with seeds by the tree ratio of 10 per cent exotic, 60 per cent indigenous and 30 per cent fruit, as the initial set up. This gives the schools an opportunity to have a sustainable tree growing business. It also engenders the students (and with it, the youth of Kenya) the capacity to grow trees as part of a school curriculum. The schools sell seedlings to the local community and, at the schools, have already begun significant planting of their own land. Through the commercialization of tree growing, this enables the school to receive revenue from the tree programme, whilst simultaneously increasing tree coverage and educating students on the importance of environmental conservation. The Foundation aims to benchmark 30 per cent coverage per school, to align with the national aim, and to grow 1 million trees annually to support the President’s aim of growing 15 billion trees.
Main challenges:
Being a relatively new initiative there are still many challenges to overcome. The primary challenge is to create a sustainable programme, where targets are met and monitored, and it is financially sustainable. The initial costs are covered by the Chandaria Foundation, after which the profits from each year are used to sustain the programme into the next year. The commercial sustainability is impacted by the survival rate of the seedlings (at germination) and the survival of the seedlings into maturity (approximately two years). Minimal risk has been experienced after two years when the trees no longer need major care. In certain tree nurseries water resources have been poor, and further investment is required in collecting tanks. Some schools have struggled to find customers for their seedlings; the demand exists (mostly companies completing their corporate social responsibility requirements), but the communication from supply to demand can be improved. Student participation is also an area that can be improved, the general trend of participation being inversely proportional to age. By university level there is substantially less participation than in younger years, and it has been suggested to add one course (merit) to all university degrees that obligate students to participate in a tree planting scheme in order to increase participation.
Results achieved:
From the inception of the programme, 1.5 million trees have already been grown. Moreover, considering the 13 schools involved, an average of 1,000 students per school have participated in the programme. Environment clubs at each school have the number of members ranging from 60 to 500 students at any one time. The programme has also encouraged the majority of students to grow trees at home and some have even created their own tree nurseries. The goals of the different tree nurseries are all aligned in that they each aim to maximize the output of seedlings. Given that success of the programme is largely built upon financial sustainability, many tree nurseries have been increasing the proportion of fruit trees planted. This yields a dual benefit that the mature seedlings sell for substantially more (up to 400 per cent) than their indigenous counterparts. Once the fruit trees are planted, they also produce fruits which can then be sold for additional profit. However, the pilot project in Ribe (run by the local church with support from the Global Peace Foundation) is taking a different approach by prioritizing indigenous flowering trees, as well as establishing bee hives which then produce honey. Profits are fed back into the tree nurseries. Additionally, and to encourage tree growing within the community, the church acts as a broker to local farmers, where for every seedling sold through it the farmers get 60 per cent and the church gets 40 per cent. Another major priority is increasing the survival rate of the seedlings. This is done through ensuring schools that develop tree nurseries have the means of securing quality seeds, which deliver a higher success rate (95 per cent germination, on average).
Moving Forward:
Moving forward, and based on feedback from participants, to encourage and maintain engagement from students and other participants, the schools should, as a good practice, formalize their environmental programmes. For example, the schools with a greater proportion of student participation have charged a fee for membership and formalized the process through certification. Through this formalization, students have felt more included and have made a bigger commitment (monetarily), which thus increases students’ desire to contribute. Furthermore, incentives such as school trips to learn more about tree nurseries have led to a rise in membership and thus student participation. Gaining carbon credits is also a field that the tree nurseries are aiming to tap into, as well as intercropping; but for this, more external support would be needed. Additionally, to ensure good practices are maintained, schools should have an environment committee dedicated to environmental programmes in them.
Replicability:
The potential successful replicability of this programme is evident in the promising results of the 15 tree nurseries around Kenya, all of which contribute to the Kenyan President’s goal. The initial setup costs for the tree nurseries (including seeds, green house and watering system) is approximately USD 5,000. In Kenya this is provided by the Chandaria Foundation and based on a minimum of have the following five criteria: 1) needs support from the Chandaria Foundation Board of Management, 2) availability of electricity, 3) availability of running water, 4) a minimum area of land, 5) a letter of goodwill intent. Given the significant potential benefits of such tree planting initiatives, there is much scope for not-a-very substantial investment to yield considerable socioeconomic returns.
References:
- https://www.mygov.go.ke/kenyas-tree-planting-drive-hits-783million-mark
- https://globalpeace.org/gpf-kenya-and-partners-advance-one-million-tree-planting-campaign-dedicate-chandaria-forest-to-combat-deforestation
- https://foundation.kepsa.or.ke/service/kepsa-foundation-kijani-initiative/
This good practice was kindly prepared by Mr. Jamieson A. Mullis and Mr. Massimo Huiyang R.
Project Details
Date: May 19, 2025