2020 Friends of Karura AGM - Chair's Report

Remarks from the Chair, Dr. Winnie Kiiru Once again, welcome to the 11th AGM of the Friends of Karura Community Forest Association (FKF)! And thank you so much for attending virtually. It is my pleasure to present our annual report of the main events and activities of this past financial year.

It has been a year like no other: the first half was marked by the preparation and holding of our tenth anniversary, a major milestone for FKF, giving us a chance to show what had been achieved during those ten years. The second half saw our world turned upside down by Covid-19, just like everybody else’s here in Kenya and around the globe.

Let me begin with some graphs showing visitor numbers over a twelve-month period from August through September, comparing the 2018-2019 period with that of 2019-2020. As you can see from the dips in the rainy season months, November and April-May, our 'business' is very weather dependent. What is interesting to note is that despite the unusually heavy rainfall during the last long rains, the number of visitors remained relatively high due to the Covid-19 effect.

The extraordinary number of visits and reactions on social media show clearly the crucial role Karura played in the lives of many people in Nairobi during the lockdown. A lot of people came to visit the forest for the first time during that period, many loved it, and have since come back again and again. We are very proud to have been able to offer to all of them a safe and beautiful place to relax, exercise and get some peace of mind during these difficult days.

2

30% uptick from May till August 2020 over the previous year Covid-19 effect?

Annual Totals Sep 18 - Aug 19 → 459,900 Sep 19 - Aug 20 → 488,100 ↑ ~30,000

Schoolkid Parties Down due to Covid-19 & closures Sep 18 - Aug 2019: 17,728 Sep 19 - Aug 2020: 6,842

↓ ~10,000 3

FKF Board Members Winnie Kiiru, Chair Cristina Boelcke, Vice-chair Sharad Rao, Vice-chair Katherine Kariuki, Secretary Angelica Kamuyu, Treasurer Chantal Mariotte, Assist. Treasurer Karanja Njoroge Rose Muya Ben Gaithuma Bob Gethenji Pastor Sammy Njuki Pastor Griffin Nkonge Peta Meyer Yashwin Shretta Sansi Dietz – New Sandra Ostermann - New

According to our new constitution adopted in 2019 we do not hold elections this year. However, we have two new non-elective additions to our board, Sansi Dietz representing Peponi and Sandra Ostermann representing New Muthaiga. Both have hit the ground running as soon as they joined the board and have been active in several committees.

4

The steady increase in the number of visitors required us to beef up our staff to be able to cope. We now have 97 permanent staff members.

97 Permanent staff 1 Operations manager 5 Coordinators 7 Admin 55 Scouts 12 Clerks 5 Tree carers 11 Caretakers & fundis Ratio Office to Field =1 to 8 We promoted former Logistics Coordinator Peter Njui at the beginning of the year to Operations Manager in charge of the line coordinators shown above. We also increased the number of Scouts and Clerks working at the gates. More visitors means more traffic, parking management and generally more work keeping the forest safe, clean, and visitors as happy as possible, a sometimes daunting task.

5

First Half Of The Year Preparing the Tenth Anniversary Activities 10-Year Report Visitors’ Guidebook A lot of hard work went into preparing the Tenth Anniversary celebrations.

Video “A Tale of Two Trees”

We published a 10-year report to be distributed to our members, officials and dignitaries.

It is available on our Facebook page and website. We also published an informative and well-illustrated guidebook which has been well received. We also commissioned a short video that we use to highlight the forest during events, lectures or other promotional activities. It is also on our website, Facebook, YouTube page.

6

10th Anniversary Run We held an Anniversary Run on the day our national hero Eliud Kipchoge ran the first marathon under two hours.

The Berlin event was shown on a huge screen after our run and the occasion turned into a big party for participants, their families and friends and the many spectators.

Ø 700 participants and many spectators Ø Famous Coach Simba managed the race Ø Organised by Run Beyond and Team Jasho

7

Sigiria Matembezi Trail Opening Joyful inauguration Ø Short loop =

600 m

Ø Long loop = 1,600 m Ø 8 different circuits

The Matembezi Trail, a 1.6 km paced circuit for mobility challenged visitors was inaugurated during a colourful ceremony. It is part of our effort to promote inclusiveness in the forest.

8

FKF Helping Other CFAs Ø A two-day CFA mentoring workshop organised and hosted by FKF Ø 7 CFAs took part Ø All together around 24 participants Ø Moderated by Dr. Winnie Kiiru and Prof. Karanja Njoroge

FKF hosted a mentoring workshop for Community Forest Associations from other Kenyan Forest Reserves. An important part of FKF’s mission is to share the experience accumulated over a decade in terms of success and challenges with more recent CFAs struggling to establish themselves.

Another mentoring workshop was organised recently specifically for the Loitokitok CFA. 9

Tenth Anniversary Celebration Amani Garden, 9 October 2019, 280 attendees Launch of Visitors Guidebook, 10-Year Report, Bursary Fund

10

Second Half Of The Year… …Then came Covid-19

New normal at all gates: Ø Temperature checks Ø Hand washing stations Ø Mandatory mask wearing Ø Social distancing

11

Then came the Covid-19 at the end of March. Several measures were discussed and adopted by the KFS/FKF joint management committee to allow the forest to remain open while complying with government directives. Mandatory mask wearing, temperature checking, hand washing stations, shorter opening hours, closure of picnic sites, bike shops, cafes, and other measures were implemented and rescinded as government guidelines were changed depending on the Covid-19 situation. Mask wearing was challenging, but by and large, people have complied when in proximity to others.

12

Covid-19 Keeping People Informed

13

Rain Year 2019-2020 Record rainfall causing major damage to infrastructure Ø 2018 30% above average Ø 2019 30% below average Ø 2020 96% above average

14

Other Major Infrastructure Projects Both the short and the long rains this year were unusually heavy, wreaking havoc on our infrastructure. Major repair jobs went on non-stop during the year.

Bio-digesters installed at Karura Forest House, Limuru, Sharks, Sigiria Gates, and River Cafe Security cameras covering Karura Forest House, clerks houses and parking areas at Limuru, KFEET, Sharks, and Sigiria gates We also went green with our wastewater, installing bio-digesters at the office and all the gates. The water that comes out is fit to be discharged in rivers and is used for watering.

The water from the River CafĂŠ is used to irrigate the nursery.

In addition, new security cameras were installed at the office and all the gates. The images produced are used to monitor security and for human resources management.

15

Coming Up This Next Year New infrastructure project: new gate at Peponi Gardens Lane Site visit by FKF team at La Casa gate

16

17

All that increased rainfall seen on page 14 was very beneficial to our planting efforts. Between the two rainy seasons we have planted 28,107 seedlings on 26 ha of cleared land. Our objective as per the 5-year Strategic Management Plan for Karura is to rehabilitate 15 ha per year, but usually we manage to do much more than that.

You can see on the map to the right the areas cleared and regenerated areas (yellow). We have now nearly 50% of indigenous forest in Karura (up from 25% in 2009).

We can now fully supply all our planting activities from our own nursery. As you can see, we have quite a diversity of species, over 39 species of trees and 20 species of shrubs.

We even have some to give away to people doing good deeds such as the group in charge of planting along the new link road between Red Hill and Lavington.

18

Planting Season 2019-2020 Seedlings planted: 28,107 Ha planted: 26

Species in the FKF nursery: Tree species: 39 Shrub species: 20

19

Tree seedlings: 67,283 Shrub seedlings: 1,823

Ø 432: number of forestry work contracts awarded to community groups Ø 286: total number of registered group members Ø 3,168: number of man/days of other casual work

Bursaries 2019-2020

Ø 12,000,000 KES: income generated for FKF members from the community

Ø 2019 academic year: 73 beneficiaries Ø 2020 academic year: 78 beneficiaries Total 151 scholarships

20

At the heart of our mission is the support we endeavour to give to our community members. Our bursary project has gone from strength to strength during this financial year with 151 children being supported. Of course, this activity also came to a grinding halt with the closure of schools at the end of March, but we are ready to carry on as soon as schools reopen.

We normally receive about 15,000 children per year on their school outings plus 1,500 more from disadvantaged areas we host ourselves, but there again these have been suspended until schools reopen.

As in previous years, on top of permanent jobs we also generate a lot of forestry contract work for our community members. During this past year 432 contracts were given to our community groups, amounting to 3,168 person-days of work. It is very fortunate that forestry work lends itself to social distancing easily so that it could continue during the crisis and our community members didn’t have to suffer any loss of their usual contract income.

21

From FKF funds: Ø Increase bursary fund from 2 to 3 million KES p.a.

From gate collections:

Ø Organise tutoring for bursary beneficiaries if schools remain closed

Ø New Peponi Gate Ø Handicapped toilet at Sigiria Gate

Ø Projects pending already approved Covid-19 permitting

Bursary beneficiaries during their annual mentoring session

22

As long as we are under the scourge of Covid-19, it is very difficult to do any kind of serious planning due to all the uncertainties. We will continue with all our usual management activities. We plan to build a new gate at the end of Peponi Gardens Lane to ease the pressure on the Sigiria Gate, and a disabled toilet at Sigiria Gate among other infrastructure projects.

More specifically, on the FKF budget side, we propose to increase our very popular bursary project by one million KES, making it three million a year altogether. Should schools not reopen soon, we propose to organise a tutoring program for our grantees to allow them to keep up with their studies in small groups of the same form. The suggested budget for this activity is 300,000 KES. This will require your approval.

There are also some projects already approved by previous AGMs left over from last year and before which we will take up again, Covid permitting.

Finally, our thanks go to our partners at the Kenya Forest Service who have worked with us tirelessly throughout the year. We have enjoyed full support from Francis Kariuki the Head of the Nairobi Conservancy, Paul Musembi our Karura Forest Station Manager and all their staff.

We would like also to thank our donors whose generosity as usual has been nothing short of remarkable. We are blessed to have them at our side always.

Our gratitude also goes to members of our Board who spared no effort to ensure that our 10th anniversary was a great success, and that the management of Karura Forest remains acclaimed as the gold standard of participatory forest management in Kenya and beyond through thick and thin.

But our biggest thanks must go to our staff. During this difficult period, they have gone way beyond the call of duty and stepped up to the mark to make sure that our visitors receive the same high level of standards at all levels when visiting Karura Forest. Let’s give them a big virtual round of applause.

Thank you very much for your attention. Asanteni sana!

23