Pastoralist communities in Laikipia County have earned Sh108 million from carbon credits as environmental conservation efforts start to pay off.
The payout comes at a time when the region is reeling from adverse effects of a severe drought that wiped out thousands of livestock, their main economic lifeline.
Three conservancy groups from semi-arid Laikipia North Sub-County are the beneficiaries of the carbon credit, with each receiving Sh36 million, channelled through Northern Rangelands Trust (NRT) which supports 43 community conservancies across the country.
“ll Ngwesi, Lekuruki and Naibung’a conservancies have each received Sh36million. Naibungá was initially one group but have split into three hence each received Sh12 million,” said Alloyce Lekuton, NRT’s director in charge of the Mountain region.
Mr Lekuton said beneficiaries have been involved in protecting indigenous forests such as Mukogodo Forest, planting and protecting indigenous tree species and conservation of rangelands through controlled grazing all which contribute to removal of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
He spoke at Kurum village during issuance of Sh4 million in the form of bursaries to over 700 secondary and university students affiliated to Naibungá Upper Conservancy.
“Deaths of livestock affected education for our children with some of them dropping out of school due to parents’ inability to pay fees. We also experienced acute water shortage and we are glad that some of the money from carbon credit has been used in rehabilitating water sources such as boreholes,” said Ms Elizabeth Paraiton, a member of the conservancy.
Peter Kilesi, the conservancy chairman, said they have adopted an elaborate rangeland management approach which involves zoning sections of the communally owned land to allow grass to grow to support both livestock and wildlife.
“The carbon credit payout we have received is from our efforts to conserve grass {pasture}. We practice rotation grazing during the dry and wet season and that is why we have set aside 40 percent of the funds we have received to support conservation efforts while the rest would be utilised in support education, water provision and livelihood in general," said Mr Kilesi.
