Kitiligini Site, kenya
Future-tech understands the responsibility we have as current guardians of our planet, and we are passionate about helping to protect our natural environment.
While we strive to adhere to sustainable working practices and producing energy efficient data centre designs, we also wanted to contribute to global conservation projects that also have a positive impact locally..
We have partnered with Eden Reforestation Projects, an organisation that works to restore environments around the world by reforestation, while lifting local communities out of extreme poverty.
One of the projects that Future-tech contributes to is the Kitiligini planting site in Kenya.
Located north of Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, is the Great Rift Valley, known for its dry steep terrain and Afromontane forests. This unique forest is home to many pastoral communities who rely on the local ecosystem to sustain themselves and the local economy.
Kenya is famous for its diverse wildlife and wide range of forest types, but in recent decades these forests have experienced extreme environmental devastation. A serious combination of charcoal burning, logging and illegal settling has contributed to over 90% of Kenya’s land being deforested.
In the Kijabe area, deforestation events are primarily related to charcoal harvesting, highly degrading the land in the process. In 2019, Eden started working with the Kijabe Forest Trust to establish planting sites and nurseries.
The Kitiligini project in the Great Rift Valley aims to provide habitat for wildlife, sustainable economic opportunities for local families, a reliable water supply and landslide protection.
Each year, Future-tech receives a report on the progress of this project, and the fantastic efforts the Eden team are doing to improve local livelihoods and the environment with our support.
Since the Kitiligini site first opened, Eden has worked with the ambition to reach the estimated number of almost 900,000 planted trees that are needed to restore this area, and then actively protect the site and replant any losses to ensure the native Afromontane ecosystem reaches its complete potential and is returned back to its former glory.
Over the past year the site has experienced unpredictable rainfall. While the lack of water has led to reduced planting, the team has spent this time mulching and watering seedlings from previous growing seasons and creating holes for seedlings in preparation for when the rain starts up again.
Thus far, Eden have planted 633,737 trees, and created over 1,500 employments during the reporting period.
Not only is the project making great progress helping the ecosystem and reducing soil erosion, there’s also been a significant socioeconomic impact on the local community through employment at the site.
Women’s empowerment is also a core principle and goal for the Eden team in Kenya – currently 49.1% of the Kitiligini team are female.
Future-tech are excited to see how our contributions continue to help the Kitiligini reforestation project to regenerate a thriving ecosystem and in doing so improve the conditions for the local population.
