The purpose of the Biodiversity and Natural Resources Management Programme is to develop and promote policies for sustainable management of biodiversity, environmental governance, domestication of multilateral environmental agreements, and understanding the linkages between ecology, conflicts and peace building. The Centre continued supporting a female PhD candidate from Kenyatta University to conduct research on participatory forest management (PFM) with communities around Mt Kenya region. In addition, the CBAA and PISCES project are promoting planting of woodlots to increase the forest cover in the area, provide alternatives to deforestation for wood fuel and improve biodiversity. This initiative is aimed at enhancing the adaptive capacities of communities in Western province.

Current projects under this programme include;

1. Assess the impact of participatory forest management on community livelihoods in Mt. Kenya

The Centre is supporting a female PhD student from Kenyatta University to conduct research work on participatory forest management (PFM) with communities. This research is being carried out in Hombe and Upper Imenti regions in Mt. Kenya forest. PFM approach is a form of forest management which aims at shifting away from the command and control system that alienated communities in the past. Under the PFM arrangement, communities and other stakeholders are deliberately involved in the planning, management and utilization of forest resources in gazetted, private and trust lands, with the aim of improving livelihoods, ecosystem health, forest management and equity in resource distribution. This study will generate information on benefits and costs of PFM and the mechanism of sharing out these benefits and costs with the Kenya Forest Service and other stakeholders. Information gathered will be used to make policy recommendations for improving participatory forest management in the study sites and other similar regions of Kenya and beyond.

2. Establishment of woodlots for increased biodiversity and enhanced livelihoods

The PISCES and CBAA teams are collaborating to enhance the adaptive capacities of communities living in flood prone areas in Kenya. This initiative is funded by DFID through the PISCES project. It is on its’ second year of implementation. The project is aimed at enhancing the adaptive capacity of vulnerable communities for improved livelihoods. To achieve this, the initiative is promoting fast growing and beneficial species for the woodlots including: eucalyptus, cypress and Grevillea robusta, Casuarina equisetifolia , Prunus africana. Establishment of woodlots and fruit tree orchards will serve as an alternative fuel source, promote biodiversity, promote livelihood diversification options and increase the forest cover. The project is looking into up-scaling this project through increasing the tree species in the woodlots to include other beneficial indigenous species including Croton megalocarpus which can be also source of biodiesel. Out of a group of 100 farmers participating in this initiative, 40 are women.

Previous projects in the programme:

• Climate Change and Conflicts in Eastern & Horn of Africa.
• Land Tenure & Violent Conflicts in Kenya.
• Plan of Action for the Development of Regional Guidelines for Environmental Impact assessment (EAI) of Shared Ecosystems in East Africa
• Policies, Laws and Institutions to Manage East Africa's Cross-Border Biodiversity.
• Preventing Conflict through Improved Policies on Land Tenure, Natural Resource Rights, and Migration in the Great Lakes Region: An Applied Research, Networking and Advocacy Project.
• Nile Basin Civil Society Discourse.
• Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights in East and Southern Africa.
• Developing a Strategy for the Consolidation of the Pan-African Programme on Land and Resource Rights (PAPLRR) Network.
• Ecological Sources of Conflict in Sub Saharan Africa.
• An assessment of national institutions, and policies for biodiversity management in Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania.