Land and Tree Incentives Entice Kenyan Farmers to Save Forests

A Kenyan government plan to increase the country's forest cover by giving local people incentives to plant and preserve trees is paying off, resulting in more productive farmers and a landscape better able to cope with the changing climate.

“We had targeted 4.7 percent forest cover by 2015, but we are already at 6.99 percent,” said John Wanyiri, deputy director of the Kenya Forest Service. The government plan calls for forest cover to reach 10 percent by 2030, a leap from its low point of below 2 percent in 1990.

Land and Tree Incentives Entice Kenyan Farmers to Save Forests