South Rift Landscape Regeneration and Community Resilience

Project Story

The South Rift is a critical savanna ecosystem facing degradation from unsustainable grazing, climate variability, and loss of biodiversity. This project restores rangeland health through community-led grazing management, ecosystem restoration, and livelihood diversification, enabling both people and nature to thrive together.

Our Mission

We believe that healthy rangelands are the foundation of resilient pastoral communities and thriving wildlife populations. Our mission is to regenerate degraded landscapes in the South Rift through locally driven conservation practices that integrate traditional knowledge with modern ecological science. By strengthening the connection between communities and their land, we foster sustainable livelihoods and long-term ecosystem health.

Background & Problem Statement

The South Rift region is home to pastoralist communities and rich biodiversity, including wildlife dispersal areas adjacent to key protected ecosystems. However, overgrazing, land fragmentation, invasive species, and increasing climate pressures have led to widespread land degradation. Soil fertility has declined, grass cover has diminished, and water retention capacity has reduced.

These challenges have resulted in lower livestock productivity, increased human-wildlife conflict, and economic vulnerability for local communities. Without intervention, the degradation threatens both ecological integrity and the cultural and economic systems that depend on these landscapes.

Solution

Our project focuses on restoring ecological balance through holistic rangeland management. This includes planned grazing systems that allow land to recover, reseeding native grasses, controlling invasive species, and protecting key water sources.

We work directly with community conservancies and pastoral groups to implement regenerative practices that rebuild soil health, increase vegetation cover, and enhance biodiversity. These approaches restore ecosystem functions while improving livestock productivity and resilience to climate change.

Opportunity

The South Rift presents a unique opportunity to demonstrate large-scale rangeland regeneration led by local communities. By restoring these landscapes, we can create sustainable grazing systems, improve carbon sequestration, and protect critical wildlife corridors.

There is also potential to expand nature-based enterprises such as eco-tourism, conservation-linked livelihoods. These opportunities provide alternative income streams while incentivizing long-term stewardship of the land.

How We Regenerate

Our approach combines ecological restoration with community empowerment. Key activities include:

Implementing rotational and adaptive grazing systems
Rehabilitating degraded lands through reseeding and soil restoration
Strengthening community conservancies and governance structures
Supporting sustainable livelihood initiatives through engagement of women led Grass seedbanks to provide the much needed seeds for restoration.
Promoting knowledge exchange between pastoral communities and scientists
Promoting growth of Indigenous grasses through ANR.
Protection of water sources and conserving soils in farmlands through reforestation.

We prioritize inclusive participation, ensuring that women, youth, and marginalized groups play active roles in restoration efforts.

Tracking Impact

We use both scientific and community-based monitoring systems to track progress. Indicators include vegetation cover, soil health, biodiversity levels, and livestock productivity.

We also measure social impact through improvements in household income, food security, and community resilience. Data is collected regularly and used to adapt strategies, ensuring effective and lasting outcomes.

Our Experience

Our team has extensive experience working in the South Rift on conservation, grazing management, and community engagement. We have partnered with local conservancies, research institutions, and grassroots organizations to implement successful restoration projects.

Through these collaborations, we have supported landscape-scale regeneration efforts, trained community leaders, and developed models for sustainable land management that can be replicated across the region.