Rural Environmental Sustainable Technologies (REST)

Rural Environmental Sustainable Technologies (REST)

The need to sustainably engage youth and women in building community climate change resilience is key for the achieving most sustainable development goals. With high dramatic effects of climate change, youth and women in rural Homa Bay whose livelihoods directly depend on land and nature suffer the most. For decades, Low carbon sinks, deforestation, land degradation, loss of biodiversity and pollution have imposed health and general livelihood challenges for youth, women leading to poverty and death as well as decline in community growth at large. As population grows, demand for natural resources such as land, wood and our nature can’t provide. Commercial agroforestry could definitely provide a sustainable part of the solution. The REST uses innovative micro agroforestry model to support and help build adaptive capacities of youth and women (primary users of land and nature) to earn and live sustainably. REST turn degraded and underutilized land into commercial agroforestry, bridging gaps from seedling to fruits and tree value chain, an integrated agroforestry commercial enterprise. Farmers (youth and women) provide land, farming skills and security and in turn get health seedlings, interactive e-platform to learn, share, and network and coordinated commercial log harvesting and market.  The small agroforestry lots uses little water and soil nutrients and no stress on environment. Agroforestry trees provide food, improve soil fertility and help in carbon sink. The lots also enable farmers to get extra incomes from fruits, beekeeping, termite harvesting and butterfly farming. Grevilia provide sustainable wood supply through sessional harvesting of branches hence reduced deforestation due to massive charcoal burning and firewood.  The organization has set up a 500,000-capacity tree and fruit nursery in Ndhiwa Town. The nursery raises healthy fruits and tree seedlings which as sold or given contracted farmers (youth and women), act as venue for field farmer schools and research centre as well as community resource centre.