NAIROBI (September 2, 2016) On September 8, the Kenya Ministry of Environment, Natural Resources and Regional Development Authorities, and the Kenya Forest Service (KFS) will host an official event and press briefing to announce Kenya’s national restoration commitment, as well as launch new restoration opportunity maps, a technical report and website. The launch event will take place in the Intercontinental Hotel, Mara North Room, Nairobi starting at 8:00am. The Press Briefing will take place in the La Prugna Room at 10:15am.The announcement will serve as Kenya’s official commitment to the Bonn Challenge and AFR100.

Landscape restoration is a great opportunity for Kenya’s people and lands, and builds on the tradition of the Green Belt Movement. Trees play an important role in landscapes, helping to provide multiple ecosystem services such as stabilizing soils, providing important habitat for wildlife, as well as keeping soils fertile for agricultural use. By introducing more trees into landscapes through landscape restoration, whether as natural forests or as mixed agroforestry systems, and through better land management practices, degradation can be reversed, reestablishing restoring productivity and resilience. Kenya is the first African country to do a comprehensive national restoration opportunity assessment that was then used to inform their commitment to the Bonn Challenge and AFR100. The assessment is reflected in the National Opportunity Maps that will launch at the event.

The event will feature Professor Judi Wangalwa Wakhungu (Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources), Emilio Mugo (Kenya Forest Service), Wanjira Mathai (Greenbelt Movement), Dr. Alice Kaudia (State Department of Environment and Natural Resources), and other government officials, as well as representatives from partners World Resources Institute (WRI), Clinton Climate Initiative (CCI), International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the Greenbelt Movement, who provided technical support to help develop commitments, priorities and strategies for landscape restoration in Kenya.

For more information, email Sarah Weber at sweber@wri.org.

WHAT: Launch of Kenya’s official restoration commitment and national restoration opportunity maps, technical report and website

Members of the press are invited to attend the event, which will be divided into two sessions (map and commitment launch at 8:00 am, followed by press question and answer session at 10:15 am.)

WHEN: September 8, 2016 – 8:00am to 11:00am

WHERE: Intercontinental Hotel, Mara North Room, Nairobi

SPEAKERS:

Professor Judi Wangalwa Wakhungu – Cabinet Secretary, Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources in Kenya

Dr. Alice Kaudia – Secretary of Environment, State Department of Environment and Natural Resources in Kenya

Emilio Mugo – Director, Kenya Forest Service

Dr. Margaret W. Mwakima – Principal Secretary, State Department for Natural Resources in Kenya

Charles Talengo Sunkuli – Principal Secretary, State Department for Environment in Kenya

Luther Anukur – Regional Director, IUCN

Jackson Kimani – Regional Director, Clinton Foundation

Wanjira Mathai – Chairperson, Greenbelt Movement

Dr. Kitty Van der Heijden – Director, WRI Europe

• Chair, Environmental Donor Consortium in Kenya

RSVP: Sarah Weber at sweber@wri.org

Mike Muratha at mikemuratha@ymail.com