10 
Bulletin of the EANHS 29(3) 
Wildlife Service but not so successful in the section 
managed by Forestry Department World-wide 
experience has indeed shown that policing the forest 
only offers short-term solutions. In the long run people 
become resentful at losing access to the forest and 
become defiant towards the forest authorities Effective 
solutions need a comprehensive management strategy 
involving local communities, scientists, health 
professionals, conservationists, educators, economists, 
policy makers and others 
Five factors have been identified as contributing to 
the rapid loss of Kakamcga forest 
1. Inadequate, or lack of. knowledge and 
understanding among stakeholders about the 
importance of the forest and die need to conserve 
it. 
2. Over-reliance on wood and fodder from the 
forest by the local community for cooking, 
building, furniture and cattle grazing 
3. Over-reliance on forest products by the local 
communities around the lores! for income and 
traditional medicines 
4. Insufficient management and protection of the 
forest. 
5. Rapid human population increase around the 
forest. 
The International Centre ol Insect Physiology and 
Ecology (ICIPF.), concerned about the rapid loss of 
the forest, has been fundraising to address these factors 
responsible for the forest degradation Funds have now 
been secured from the Mai Arthur and Packard 
Foundations and the Global Environmental Facility/ 
small grants programme to: 
1 Promote community driven environmental 
education to the local community living in the 
immediate catchment area of Kakamcga forest 
in partnership with a local environmental 
group— the Kakamcga Environmental Education 
Programme (KEEP) 
2 Promote alternatives to forest-derived luel w«mhI 
and I odder, and luelwood energy saving 
technologies, in partnership with the 
Intermediate Technology Development Group 
(1TDG) 
3 Promote income-generating activities for the 
local community in partnership with Kenya Rural 
Enterprise Programme (K-RF.P). 
4 Improve on existing resource management of 
the forest in partnership with several research 
institutions. Kenya Wildlife Service and the 
Forestry Department. 
5 Reduce human population pressure on forest 
resources by improving family planning 
activities among forest adjacent communities 
This is being implemented in collaboration with 
the Kisumu Medical and Education Trust and 
the Kenya Medical Association 
The need for environmental education 
Many of the threats that arc facing Kakamega forest 
are due to lack of or inadequate knowledge among 
stakeholders about the importance of the forest. 
Educating the stakeholders about the value of Kakamega 
forest is therefore a critical factor in its future survival 
Environmental education to the local community will 
enhance acceptance of the forest conservation activities 
that will be promoted by the project The immediate 
socio economic catchment area of Kakamcga Forest, 
estimated to comprise 57 villages with approximately 
150,000 households forms a large potential audience 
for an environmental education program A local 
environmental group initiated a program known as the 
Kakamega Environmental Education Program (KEEP) 
with the aim of teaching school children about the 
natural history of the torest. its usefulness and how it 
can be conserved By educating the adult local 
community, ICIPE will complement the KEEP 
activities 
Tho need for alternatives to forest-derived 
fuel wood and fodder, and energy saving 
technologies. 
There is a very high demand lor indigenous tree species 
from Kakamcga forest for tmiber. firewood, carving 
wood, charcoal production and for poles and sometimes 
lor direct cash sales The production ol charcoal is a 
very profitable activity and is a common way of 
generating cash income to meet household needs To 
convince the community to stop charcoal production 
and to reduce reliance on firewood from the forest, 
they need to be provided with an alternative source of 
income and energy To bring exploitation levels down 
to sustainable levels nationally, it would mean a total 
annual income loss of about Kenya shillings 1 1 million 
for Kenya's forest adjacent dwellers In a recent survey. 
92 % of households expressed the opinion that there is 
less wood fuel available than there had been in the 
past There is. therefore, a perceived wood fuel shortage 
and interventions aimed at wood fuel conservation is 
expected to lie welcomed by the community 
The need for alternative income generating 
activities for the local community 
Conservation programs that are initiated in 
economically impoverished but biodiversity rich areas 
should be designed to provide economic incentives that 
benefit local stakeholders. This allows them to be 
partners in conservation activities (Western and Wright, 
1994) The economic incentives should provide 
immediate benefits to the local people and ensure 
sustainability and should be related to conservation 
activities. This project will promote income generating 
strategics ideal for attaining both economic and 
ecological success These strategies will include; 
apiculture (bee keeping) and scricullure (silkworm 
