WE ARE

AFRICAN FOREST

Our Vision

Our goal is simple, we want to help you plant more trees. We make it easy, just the click of a button will enable us to grow a tree on your behalf. If we work together; we can restore Kenya’s forests and replenish habitats for wildlife, ensuring our children and for many generations yet to come can benefit from us acting now before its too late.

The Science Behind Our Work

African Forest provides innovative and sustainable solutions that benefit communities, investors, but most importantly, the environment. Guided by an internally developed methodology, Planet Positive Forestry (PPF) Model, four pillars define the team’s work: planting and growing  forests, promoting biodiversity, preventing poverty, and promoting ethical investment. The model emphasizes intercropping tree species together and was developed upon the discovery that indigenous species, coupled with pioneer species, yield faster and healthier growing trees.     

Planet Positive Forestry is simple, when forests regenerate naturally, for example after a forest fire, grasses, small plants and shrubs grow first, followed by pioneer species, which like full sun and are fast growing. They are followed by the climax species, the ones that exist in mature forest. The climax species seed will remain in the ground until the pioneer species have created enough shade, and then and only then will they germinate. As they grow the pioneer species eventually die off leaving only climax species in the mature forests contain a maximum of around 400 trees per hectare so even if you plant 1,000, 2,000 etc, there will be competition, and only a certain number will reach maturity. For example in natural regeneration of Acacia xanthopholea, approximately 7,000 trees will germinate per hectare, but by year 30-40 only SO per hectare will remain.

Planet Positive forestry works on the basis of planting indigenous tree species in their final spacing {Sm x Sm, or 400 per ha.) These are then intercropped with fast growing exotic pioneers and/or indigenous pioneer species, to recreate similar shade conditions under which climax species would grow naturally. The thinning out of the pioneer species recreates the natural thinning that would occur in forest regeneration, and the digging out of the stumps prevents them from coppicing.

Meet The Team

Kenya Mutiso
Founder

Kenya Mutiso started a tree seedling nursery in Nairobi in 2003 and is now the founder of African Forest, where he manages most of the operations and community relations. In 2013 he achieved recognition by the Government of Kenya and Food and Agriculture Organisation for his contribution to food security and tree growing in the community.  He has mobilised over 1,000 community members in agroforestry projects with Kenya Fly Fishers Club (KFFC), Naivasha Basin Sustainability Initiative (NBSI) and MaMaSe. He has trained communities in seed collection, processing and marketing with Botanical Gardens Conservation International(BGCI), Kenya Forest Research Institute (KEFRI) and South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI), National Museums of Kenya and has been featured on Al Jazeera’s Earthrise and KTN’s Project Green.

Lynda Holt
Director

Lynda is new to the African Forest team and has been working with African Forest since January 2022. Lynda, who has a background in mainstream media and advertising and is a business consultant, handles all the financial, administration and marketing aspects of African Forest.

Augustine Kairimi
General Manager and Botanist

Augustine joined the team in 2020 as a botanist. Through African Forest and the Global Tree Campain, Augustine has been mapping key endemic trees and shrubs in Shimba Hills and Buda Forest, collecting voucher specimens, doing phenological surveys, seed collection and community training in Kwale County.

Herbert Migiro
Botanist

Herbert has worked for African Forest for years and is our resident specialist in indigenous plant species, Herbert’s key role with African Forest has been to research and survey threatened tree species, and train communities in seed collection, processing and nursery management.

Simon Wachira
Forestry and Seedling Specialist

Simon started working at African Forest as an undergraduate intern in 2016 and is currently pursuing his master's in tropical forestry. Simon brings his expertise in forest management, plant nursery operations, and so much more at African Forest.