Deforestation, irregular rainfall and increased drought threaten food security in areas where the Maasai communities in Kenya live. By learning a range of green skills, Indigenous women are protecting their environment and improving their lives.
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00:00The Nyokweri Forest. This nature reserve in southwestern Kenya is under threat.
00:07Its greatest enemies are extreme weather conditions and deforestation.
00:13But there is hope. Local Maasai women are helping look after it.
00:18They've changed. They are powerful and they can be able to manage it on their own.
00:22In fact, it's becoming a threat to the men.
00:25But it's good because at the same time it empowers the whole family and the whole community.
00:33Things are different now.
00:38We were behind. We milked our cows and that's all we had.
00:45During drought, we would eat wild fruits and cook them for our children so that they don't go hungry.
00:52Mama Lucy has really helped the women and she has helped us as well.
00:58For example, she and the women set up the first beehives here.
01:06Lucy Mulenke is Maasai herself and grew up here.
01:09In 1996, she founded an environmental protection initiative with indigenous women.
01:14She has trained around 700 Maasai women in the Nyokweri area so far.
01:19They learn new skills such as growing different types of vegetables in their own gardens,
01:23such as spinach and kale, and also about the need to protect the forest.
01:29The rainfall is not coming as it used to.
01:32And so by training them and trying to give them why they should make sure that they protect the forest
01:38and also be able to have and not to burn charcoal as it used to be,
01:43because that was a big threat around here.
01:47And also logging and the neighboring communities cut the traditional trees,
01:53which are very important for firewood.
02:01The Maasai women traditionally welcome visitors with song.
02:05Landowner Shadrack Oleseyo gave the women land for the organization's resource center,
02:10which includes a demo farm.
02:13He was impressed by Lucy Mulenke's project and donated five acres,
02:18the equivalent of about three football pitches.
02:23I decided to give the women this piece of land because they came to my home
02:28and asked me if I could provide them with a place where they could develop their project.
02:34I decided to give them a section of my land.
02:39The women have also teamed up with the forest rangers in the conservation area.
02:44Here they are monitoring the local pangolin population.
02:51They have also planted trees with the women
02:54and educated them about the importance of protecting the forest.
02:59Our forest has important wild animals and we do not want to destroy it,
03:05so that the animals disappear and eventually we lose our livelihood.
03:17We speak to the people working to protect the conservancy,
03:22and progress has been good.
03:26You can see that our land is less degraded.
03:30Although there were a few sections that were damaged,
03:34but we have been able to restore those sections back to how they were.
03:41Indigenous people make up just over 6% of the global population,
03:46but that 6% protect 80% of the land.
03:50The women plant mainly native trees to help renew their forest.
04:06Cutting down trees has contributed to the problem,
04:10but it is not the only problem.
04:13But in places that I have visited,
04:16I have seen that where people have planted trees,
04:19there is still enough rainfall.
04:27The women here have followed suit and planted more than 5,000 trees.
04:32If the harvest is poor, the women can now plant more trees.
04:37By selling these products, they can keep their families afloat,
04:40even during the dry season.
04:46Remember, when you educate a woman, you are educating the whole world,
04:50so this is why we really like empowering them.
04:57The women have been doing this for a long time.
05:00They have been doing this for a long time,
05:03so this is why we really like empowering them.
05:08Here in Nyikweri, the Maasai women are better off now
05:11that they have diversified their skills from farming to making jewellery.
05:15They are protecting the environment in the process,
05:18and crucially, they are also passing on their knowledge to their children.