Protection of Nyekweri Forest by local communities, Trans Mara Subcounty, Kenya

Nyekweri Forest is located to the west of Maasai Mara Nature Reserve and is an important refuge for threatened wildlife.The project assists the approximately 1000 Maasai living in the area to develop a biocultural protocol based on their traditions and cultural values. Working together with the local project partner, the project improves the exchange with the administration at national and regional level in order to achieve legal recognition as a conservancy. The project also strengthens income-generating activities to reduce deforestation for charcoal production. They include eco-tourism, improved animal husbandry and honey production. These project measures will help prevent forest loss beyond the life of the project. Women are trained to improve production and sale of traditional bead jewelry and to manage this income independently. Particular emphasis is placed on women's independent income and the strengthening of their role in traditional community bodies.

Project data

Countries: Kenya
IKI funding: 307,573.00 €
Duration: 07/2021 till 12/2024
Status: open
Implementing organisation: Arbeitsgemeinschaft Regenwald und Artenschutz (ARA) e.V.
Implementing Partner: Indigenous Information Network (IIN)

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State of implementation/results

More than 40 one to three-day workshops have so far been able to address 20 to 100 participants each. This includes members of all families of the Nyekweri Kimintet Forest Trust as well as the neighboring communities of Oloisukut Conservancy and Nyekweri Oloirien.
In 2023, a biocultural protocol of the Siria Maasai was published. In a participatory process, the voices of elders, women and youth were heard and all views were integrated. The process has already attracted significant attention from neighboring communities who are eager to start similar processes. Representatives from Nyekweri Oloirien, Oloisukut and Maasai Moran proposed that Nyekweri Kimintet guide them through the process of writing their own biocultural protocols. The experiences of the process will then be summarized in a joint publication.
In 2024, the Maasai Mara Wildlife Conservancies Association (MMWCA) has registered Nyekweri Kimintet and neighbouring Nyekweri Oloirien as fully established conservancies.
The cooperation of the local community with government agencies was improved considerably. Workshops attended by Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) senior warden in Narok County and representatives of Kenya Forest Service (KFS) provided opportunities to discuss urgent topics like the increase in human-wildlife conflicts. In the follow-up, predator deterrent lights were made available that help to prevent the attacks of lion and hyena on livestock. These are automatic lights charged by small solar panels installed at strategic points identified by the rangers.
In early 2022, a bee house was constructed that offers space for over 40 bee hives and provides protections against the raids of honey badgers. 4 workshops attracted a lot of attention by the community members. Catcher boxes were brought to the forest. Once bees start to breed in them, they are brought to the bee house where they are resettled into modern bee hives. To provide food for the bees, four types of indigenous trees were planted on the compound.
The women of the Maasai community have worked together to build a women's manyatta, which currently consists of seven traditional houses. It offers women a safe meeting place and has become a base for learning together and empowering themselves. In addition, they were able to secure a 2 ha site, providing greater opportunities for food security training and new income-generating activities.
In July 2024, a team of Deutsche Welle Nairobi visited Nyekweri Kimintet and produced a feature on the project activities: www.dw.com/…

Latest Update:
12/2024