Awareness Raising
100,000+
Students and teachers in various schools in 13 counties have been reached.
1,500,000
Seedlings provided from NTZDC Nurseries to various communities, schools and CBO'S
1,000,000 M+
Trees planted by the local community through the help of the organization
Kenya’s forests are on a rapid decline with deforestation taking place at a rate of 0.3% each year due to pressure from increased population, wood fuels, building material and other land uses. Observations since 2015 indicate a decline in forest cover in the country by 25% (824,115 hectares) or a rate of 33,000ha forest loss per year. Put in context this is same as losing forest cover equaling the size of 100 football pitches  or over 200,000 tree stamps daily.
Verifiably NTZDC works with rural communities who arguably have a strong attachment to the forest as a means for their survival. As the Corporation moves in to protecting the gazetted forest, the government utility navigated this minefield through team effort. The organization has largely been supported by various internal and external stakeholders that include; the government through the parent ministry which has allowed for the expansion from 300kms stretch to the current 939kms stretch.
 a) establish, manage and develop tea and fuel wood plantations and indigenous trees;
b) establish and manage nurseries for propagation of tea and tree seedlings;
c) establish, manage and maintain tea processing factories and process tea.
d) construct and maintain rural access roads, offices and green leaf collection centres and
e) transport, lease, sell or market in Kenya or outside Kenya any tea, wood or other products produced or processed by the Corporation or its agents.
With environmental challenges popping up faster than expected, NTZDC has been calling for all peri-forest communities to build on their environmental awareness, and get more involved in conservation efforts. This is premised on the fact that the earlier the individuals learn about the environment, the sooner they’ll be able to contribute to safeguarding it.
When it comes to raising awareness about environmental issues, NTZDC through its zonal operations and factories, has been working with local primary schools, secondary schools and CBO’s in promoting Eco-school initiatives. The project is aimed at encouraging young people to become environmentally conscious through the establishment of environmental awareness programs in over 50 schools in 19 zones the organization has its operations in.
Between 2014 and 2020, the program had already reached over 100,000 students and teachers in 52 schools.The main objective of the project is piloting an educational program and building awareness on the environmental conditions of key gazetted forests, protected lands, and water towers through community involvement; schools, students and NTZDC staff in volunteer bio-monitoring and preservation activities; and through local community stakeholders’ collaboration. As a result of this project, the organization expect to achieve positive impact at the local and national level on environmental and biodiversity preservation issues in all their areas of operation.
Consequently, impacting the tea industry, farmers and communities understand how climate change will affect them, and implement approaches to adapt to its impacts. NTZDC enhances community awareness and involvement by working closely with tea communities to build their resilience to the effects of climate change so that farmers can continue to provide for their families.
By integrating climate change training across all levels of operation, the approaches are permeating across the entire tea farming sector. Cumulatively, the organization has supported farmers in the 19 zones to plant over half a million drought and frost resistant tea clones. The clones are more resilient to unpredictable weather patterns, meaning farmers can continue to depend on tea to make their living.
An important part of the campaign is to further support farmers to develop their supplies of fuelwood by planting alternative fuelwood within their farms through the shamba system campaign. Since the campaign’s inception in 2014, the organization has helped farmers plant over 1 million trees. A further 1,500,000 seedlings have been provided to various schools, CBO’s, and farmers associations which have been raised in NTZDC tree and tea nurseries across the 19 zones.
The initiative has largely been propelled by the strong relations between the partners within the project and between organizations working towards forest conservation and the water towers management board. Consequently, the initiative has led to lowering of peri-forest communities’ reliance on fuelwood while reducing their carbon footprint and at the same time supporting them to become more energy-efficient and reduce their emissions. In the end, this is positively impacting the tea industry and communities to tackle deforestation.
With environmental challenges popping up faster than expected, NTZDC has been calling for all peri-forest communities to build on their environmental awareness, and get more involved in conservation efforts. This is premised on the fact that the earlier the individuals learn about the environment, the sooner they’ll be able to contribute to safeguarding it.
When it comes to raising awareness about environmental issues, NTZDC through its zonal operations and factories, has been working with local primary schools, secondary schools and CBO’s in promoting Eco-school initiatives. The project is aimed at encouraging young people to become environmentally conscious through the establishment of environmental awareness programs in over 50 schools in 19 zones the organization has its operations in.
Between 2014 and 2020, the program had already reached over 100,000 students and teachers in 52 schools.The main objective of the project is piloting an educational program and building awareness on the environmental conditions of key gazetted forests, protected lands, and water towers through community involvement; schools, students and NTZDC staff in volunteer bio-monitoring and preservation activities; and through local community stakeholders’ collaboration. As a result of this project, the organization expect to achieve positive impact at the local and national level on environmental and biodiversity preservation issues in all their areas of operation.
Consequently, impacting the tea industry, farmers and communities understand how climate change will affect them, and implement approaches to adapt to its impacts. NTZDC enhances community awareness and involvement by working closely with tea communities to build their resilience to the effects of climate change so that farmers can continue to provide for their families.
By integrating climate change training across all levels of operation, the approaches are permeating across the entire tea farming sector. Cumulatively, the organization has supported farmers in the 19 zones to plant over half a million drought and frost resistant tea clones. The clones are more resilient to unpredictable weather patterns, meaning farmers can continue to depend on tea to make their living.
An important part of the campaign is to further support farmers to develop their supplies of fuelwood by planting alternative fuelwood within their farms through the shamba system campaign. Since the campaign’s inception in 2014, the organization has helped farmers plant over 1 million trees. A further 1,500,000 seedlings have been provided to various schools, CBO’s, and farmers associations which have been raised in NTZDC tree and tea nurseries across the 19 zones.
The initiative has largely been propelled by the strong relations between the partners within the project and between organizations working towards forest conservation and the water towers management board. Consequently, the initiative has led to lowering of peri-forest communities’ reliance on fuelwood while reducing their carbon footprint and at the same time supporting them to become more energy-efficient and reduce their emissions. In the end, this is positively impacting the tea industry and communities to tackle deforestation.
