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Kenya Airways and Wildlife Works allow you to travel the world while protecting the environment
Kenya Airways has teamed up with Wildlife Works to allow passengers to offset the carbon emissions from every flight. To help spread the word, Kenya Airways has included Wildlife Works in their in-flight magazine. The following is extracted from the feature in Msafiri magazine: Each time you travel with Kenya Airways, the airline gives you the option to offset the environmental cost of your flight simply by checking a box, and know that you can enjoy seeing the world and help to safeguard the future of the planet at the same time. Choosing to voluntarily offset the carbon emissions produced by your flight is a credible IATA (International Air Transport Association) approved way…
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Building the Future: Residents of Mwatate Get A Taste Of Wildlife Works REDD
Residents of the town of Mwatate have joined the other Taita County communities who can say, without a doubt, that environmental conservation pays well. The latest project funded by carbon credits, which was officially opened on June 8th, is expected to increase the community’s enthusiasm for taking care of the environment. The project involved building a modern classroom at Mwatate secondary school, which cost approximately $10,000 (Ksh 800,000). Taita Taveta County’s Deputy Governor, Mrs. Mary Digha, was guest of honor at the event and hailed the classroom, which can accommodate up to 40 students, as being in line with the Ministry of Education’s specifications for building classrooms. “The Kenya Ministry…
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Wildlife Works Voted Best Project Developer in Forestry
Wildlife Works Carbon LLC was voted best project developer in the forestry category of Environmental Finance and Carbon Finance Magazine’s Voluntary Carbon Market Rankings 2013. The first prize honor was decided through a vote of more than 700 members of the voluntary carbon trade. The industry rankings recognized the pioneering achievements of Wildlife Works’ REDD+ projects in Kenya and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), where Wildlife Works currently manages the protection of 1.2M acres of threatened forest that generates 5M tonnes of REDD+ carbon credits on behalf of landowners and 150K people from the local communities. REDD+, an acronym for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation, is an…
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Wildlife Works looks to the birds to better understand climate change
As part of a long-term study to determine whether climate change is affecting bird populations, a Wildlife Works team hiked up Mt. Kasigau in Southeast Kenya to monitor the local wildlife and collect data on the many species of native and migratory birds. Wildlife Works has been conducting these expeditions three times per year for the past two years. The thinking behind this, is that global warming could cause birds to abandon their natural homes and move higher up the mountain or perish. Hiking up Mt. Kasigau’s iconic humpback outcrop to conduct a bird monitoring expedition is no simple matter. A small team traveling at a leisurely pace with no…
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Wildlife Works rangers fight against illegal ivory trade
With the increase in violence linked to the rising value of ivory, Wildlife Works’ team of rangers, led by Head Ranger and Security Manager Eric Sagwe, have been working harder than ever to curb poaching and protect wildlife. The team encountered three notable events over the past few months, from poachers killing small game for meat to a large-scale slaughter for ivory, and will continue their tireless efforts to discourage poaching and protect wildlife. Recently, two poachers were caught killing small animals to sell as bush meat. The pair had slaughtered two dik diks and two hares using pangas (large, broad-bladed African knives used as tools or weapons) and confessed…
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The Jojoba Project: Cosmetic and beauty plants benefit rural communities
If you check the ingredient label on your favorite shampoo, lotion or lipstick, it’s very likely you’ll see jojoba listed. The oil pressed from the seeds of this shrub can be used “as is” to soften hair and skin, or can be mixed into different cosmetics as an added moisturizer. Jojoba oil is unique in that it is chemically a liquid wax, not a triglyceride, making it more similar to the natural oil on human skin (sebum) than traditional vegetable oils. Jojoba shrubs are hardy and can survive in arid climates and rangelands. Plantations of jojoba have been established in a number of desert and semi-desert lands including Argentina, Australia,…
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Students from Marungu Secondary School take a walk on the wildlife side
Part of Wildlife Works’ community enrichment strategy includes ensuring that underprivileged students get a chance to view their beautiful ecosystems and see wildlife in their natural habitat. Students in rural areas do not enjoy the comforts and opportunities that the more privileged students in urban areas regularly experience. The schools surrounding Rukinga, including the Marungu Secondary School, are located almost two hours inland from Mombasa, deep in the Kenyan bush. Students at Marungu are boarded for four years, and many of them never get the opportunity to travel or visit the most picturesque parts of Kenya. Last month, the Wildlife Works’ Human Resources Department organized a group of 30 Form…
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Not a drop to drink: Building water tanks in arid lands
For the people of the Kasigau area where our Rukinga Wildlife Sanctuary is located, a normal day involves walking many miles to collect or purchase clean water. With urbanization and changes in lifestyles, water consumption is increasing at a tremendous rate. Kasigau is considered an ASAL (arid and semi-arid land), where water shortages are the norm. The lack of clean water leads to unhealthy living situations, forcing humans and wildlife to drink contaminated water, which can lead to water-born diseases. Our conservation strategy that falls under the REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation) carbon offset marketplace includes the implementation of community improvement projects that aim to ameliorate these…
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Cleaning day: Everybody do your share!
With no real infrastructure to manage waste, residents of many rural towns are neither motivated nor educated about why they shouldn’t litter. As a result, many towns, like our neighboring town of Maungu, are overburdened by noncompostable trash thrown in the streets. Part of Wildlife Works’ community education initiative focuses on teaching students how to reuse and recycle plastic items. On Oct 27th, duty called upon the residents of Maungu to join hands and remove all the polythene paper bags and plastic containers that constantly build up around the town. Wildlife Works and Marungu Hill Conservancy organize an event each year to ensure that the town is clean, and all…
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Save the kale: How one leafy green is changing lives
For some of us, eating vegetables is a chore. For others, it is a means of survival. In Kenya, kale is referred to as “Sukuma wiki” which means “to stretch the week” in Swahili. The green leafy plant serves as a staple of the average person’s diet, especially for those living on less than a dollar per day. During periods of drought, the demand for water becomes crucial for plant, animal and human use. Water shortages can cause food to become scarce, and what does reach the markets is priced exorbitantly high. The inflated prices leave families without enough food to feed everyone. In these desperate times, the youngest children…