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Current page: Home > what we do > trees > forests Watch a film about our forests. Forests
As well as helping farmers to plant trees in their farms, Excellent Development is planting protected forests in support of World Wildlife Fund conservation goals. The species selected for the forests are chosen because they are locally, nationally or globally endangered, and the majority of them also have medicinal properties. Our aims are to preserve endangered trees, and traditional trees that are locally valuable but hard to grow; as well as to help regenerate and transform the local environment. The forests are in locations where we have established tree nurseries, and so the communities are already learning tree husbandry. The forests will act as 'living seed banks' - being able to provide seeds for communities to use in their nurseries. The forest nurseries enable farmers to learn how to germinate and propagate the notoriously difficult to grow trees. The forests themselves demonstrate that successful growing is possible. In the future, workshops will also teach farmers how to sustainably harvest the trees to obtain valuable medicinal products to use or sell. And of course, as they mature, the trees will add to regional biodiversity, and contribute to improving the global environment through their absorption of carbon dioxide.
So far we have established three protected forest projects: a) Medicinal & Endangered Tree Species Project, Utooni, This is a 4-year project planting 9,500 trees suited to the altitude of 5,000 ft. Species planted include Prunus Africana, Dalbergia Melanoxylon, Juniperus Procera, Warbugia Ugandensis andOlea Europea Africana. We are supported by The Machakos Herbalist Club, a TRAFFIC* led project running a traditional medicine pharmacy and clinic. The Herbalist Club provides us with technical advice and seedlings and in future a market for farmers to sell their sustainably harvested medicinal products. This initiative is also supported by “Seeds for Life” a joint Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew and Kenya Government Agencies programme, where we are being given training, technical advice and seedlings. * TRAFFIC is World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF) & IUCN daughter organisation focussed on monitoring trade in endangered species as part of the CITES Treaty. b) Medicinal, Endangered & General Tree Species Project, Mtito Andei, Another 4-year project, planting 15,000 trees – of which 8,500 are already planted. It is similar to the c) Wood Carving Tree Project, Mtito Andei, This wood carving forest is to repopulate the endangered African Blackwood (Ebony/Dalbergia Melanoxylon). The 4-year project planting 9,500 trees will also support a WWF ‘Good Wood’ initiative in the area encouraging the sustainable planting of alternative trees for carving (e.g. Azadirachta Indica and Jacaranda Mimosifolia). Watch a film about our forests. Find out how you can help plant treesin the protected forests Full list of the trees we plant, their conservation status and their uses.
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