On World Soil Day, Soil4Climate and Maasai Center for Regenerative Pastoralism Launch Land Restoration Project

On World Soil Day, Soil4Climate and Maasai Center for Regenerative Pastoralism Launch Land Restoration Project

Planned Grazing to Provide Food, Water, Climate Benefits

December 5, 2017 – NAROK, Kenya – Soil4Climate and the Maasai Center for Regenerative Pastoralism today announced the launch of a joint initiative, the Maasai Lands Restoration Project. This venture seeks to improve degraded soils on Maasai-owned land in Kajiado County, Kenya, to provide permanent solutions to the challenges of drought, desertification, and food and water security, chronically plaguing the region. In addition, improving the land will sequester carbon, helping to reverse climate change.

Regenerative grazing of livestock will be utilized to improve the land and to increase the abundance of grass, allowing the herd size to grow. As the project proceeds, permaculture practices and other eco-agricultural innovations will be integrated into the land management.

“We are excited about this project because restoring our soil means restoring the lives of our people. Improving the land is the most important thing we can do for our Maasai community and future generations,” stated Dalmas Tiampati, Founder and Executive Director of the Maasai Center for Regenerative Pastoralism.

“It is an honor to participate in a hopeful venture that seeks to preserve a noble and proud culture facing tremendous stress from environmental devastation. Our work will show well-managed grazing can improve and strengthen a community, and provide abundant food and water while combatting global warming,” said Seth Itzkan, Co-Founder of Soil4Climate.

Other partners on this effort include the Mara Training Centre in Kenya, offering training in holistic management of land and livestock, and the Department of Land Resource Management and Agricultural Technology (LARMAT) at the University of Nairobi, providing ecological monitoring of soil carbon and range vegetation. Marking the formal start of this project, seven community leaders from the Enkutoto Nalala village in Kenya gathered today at the Mara Training Centre in Narok, Kenya, to begin training in holistic land and livestock management.

The Maasai Center for Regenerative Pastoralism, a Kenya-based nonprofit, works with Maasai pastoralists to implement regenerative land management practices. The Mara Training Center, in the northern Mara region of Kenya, is a Savory Institute Hub working to enhance the area’s plant and animal life, and increase its economic viability. The University of Nairobi Department of LARMAT offers degrees in range management and provides research activities in support of sustainable rangeland management and pastoralism. LARMAT is partnering with the Mara Training Centre to providing experiential learning to university graduates. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization has designated December 5th as World Soil Day.

Fundraising for the first phase of this effort, including drilling of a borehole and the initial training, is being coordinated by a collaboration among NorthernDawn Consulting LLC, Sustainable Partnerships LLC, and graduate students in the Masters in Environmental Management program at Western State Colorado University.

Soil4Climate Inc., a U.S.-based nonprofit, nongovernmental organization, advocates for regenerative cropping and grazing practices to improve soil fertility, increase the bionutrient density of food, restore wildlife habitat, prevent flooding, return flow to dried-up rivers, and revitalize pastoral communities while sequestering atmospheric carbon. Join the 7,000+ scientists, farmers, policymakers, journalists, and concerned global citizens of Soil4Climate at facebook.com/groups/Soil4Climate.

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Media contact:    Karl Thidemann
Soil4Climate
karl.thidemann@gmail.com