How Maasai women protect their communities with green skills

DW (English)

Deforestation, irregular rainfall and increased drought threaten food security in areas where the Maasai communities in Kenya live. By learning a range of green skills, Indigenous women are protecting their environment and improving their lives.

Transcript

00:00The Nyokweri Forest. This nature reserve in southwestern Kenya is under threat.

00:07Its greatest enemies are extreme weather conditions and deforestation.

00:13But there is hope. Local Maasai women are helping look after it.

00:18They've changed. They are powerful and they can be able to manage it on their own.

00:22In fact, it's becoming a threat to the men.

00:25But it's good because at the same time it empowers the whole family and the whole community.

00:33Things are different now.

00:38We were behind. We milked our cows and that's all we had.

00:45During drought, we would eat wild fruits and cook them for our children so that they don't go hungry.

00:52Mama Lucy has really helped the women and she has helped us as well.

00:58For example, she and the women set up the first beehives here.

01:06Lucy Mulenke is Maasai herself and grew up here.

01:09In 1996, she founded an environmental protection initiative with indigenous women.

01:14She has trained around 700 Maasai women in the Nyokweri area so far.

01:19They learn new skills such as growing different types of vegetables in their own gardens,

01:23such as spinach and kale, and also about the need to protect the forest.

01:29The rainfall is not coming as it used to.

01:32And so by training them and trying to give them why they should make sure that they protect the forest

01:38and also be able to have and not to burn charcoal as it used to be,

01:43because that was a big threat around here.

01:47And also logging and the neighboring communities cut the traditional trees,

01:53which are very important for firewood.

02:01The Maasai women traditionally welcome visitors with song.

02:05Landowner Shadrack Oleseyo gave the women land for the organization's resource center,

02:10which includes a demo farm.

02:13He was impressed by Lucy Mulenke's project and donated five acres,

02:18the equivalent of about three football pitches.

02:23I decided to give the women this piece of land because they came to my home

02:28and asked me if I could provide them with a place where they could develop their project.

02:34I decided to give them a section of my land.

02:39The women have also teamed up with the forest rangers in the conservation area.

02:44Here they are monitoring the local pangolin population.

02:51They have also planted trees with the women

02:54and educated them about the importance of protecting the forest.

02:59Our forest has important wild animals and we do not want to destroy it,

03:05so that the animals disappear and eventually we lose our livelihood.

03:17We speak to the people working to protect the conservancy,

03:22and progress has been good.

03:26You can see that our land is less degraded.

03:30Although there were a few sections that were damaged,

03:34but we have been able to restore those sections back to how they were.

03:41Indigenous people make up just over 6% of the global population,

03:46but that 6% protect 80% of the land.

03:50The women plant mainly native trees to help renew their forest.

04:06Cutting down trees has contributed to the problem,

04:10but it is not the only problem.

04:13But in places that I have visited,

04:16I have seen that where people have planted trees,

04:19there is still enough rainfall.

04:27The women here have followed suit and planted more than 5,000 trees.

04:32If the harvest is poor, the women can now plant more trees.

04:37By selling these products, they can keep their families afloat,

04:40even during the dry season.

04:46Remember, when you educate a woman, you are educating the whole world,

04:50so this is why we really like empowering them.

04:57The women have been doing this for a long time.

05:00They have been doing this for a long time,

05:03so this is why we really like empowering them.

05:08Here in Nyikweri, the Maasai women are better off now

05:11that they have diversified their skills from farming to making jewellery.

05:15They are protecting the environment in the process,

05:18and crucially, they are also passing on their knowledge to their children.

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