Forest restoration in Kenya. Mountain forest whose rivers feed Lake Victoria.

Why the Mau Region

Kenya is a large country in East Africa, between Lake Victoria in the west and the Indian Ocean in the east. Its economy leans heavily on farming and tourism. Food and poverty are long-standing problems: Ecologi’s page cites sources that put about 36% of Kenyans below the poverty line.

In the Mau Region, people face limited access to fresh water, poor roads and too few schools. The Mau forest matters far beyond the region, because many of the rivers that run through it flow into Lake Victoria and affect millions of people.

Since the 1970s in particular, forest here has been cleared for farming, charcoal and livestock. That has worn out the land. Together with recent droughts, it has done serious damage to the way water moves through the local river basins.

Why these trees

The trees planted here are afromontane species, which means trees of the African mountains. Ecologi describes this habitat as vital for wildlife and for water in the region.

A wide mix of native trees is planted. Ecologi’s update from February 2022 says the mix also includes avocado, lemon and papaya trees, to give local people new sources of food.

The site is called Kass FM. It is made up of six separate planting areas that add up to 5,700 hectares. The land is owned by the local community.

Who does the planting

The project is run by Eden Reforestation Projects, a non-profit organisation. Eden hires local people to grow the seedlings, plant them and guard them until they are established. It calls the approach “Employ to Plant”.

Here, people from the community work as planters, nursery staff and forest guards. Ecologi says the steady income helps families pay for schooling, food and healthcare.

What Ecologi saw on its visit

Four members of Ecologi’s team visited the project in September 2022 and wrote about it on the project page.

They visited two nurseries, at Tendwet and Nkoben, where tall mature trees shade the seedlings. Each bed of seedlings had a hand-painted sign giving the local name and the Latin name of the species.

Staff showed them how a tree is planted. A patch of ground is cleared of grass and weeds, a hole is made, the seedling goes in, the soil is pressed around it, and it is watered. The visitors were also shown a tree planted seven months earlier that had already grown to more than six feet tall.

The project on record

Ecologi now lists this project as “previously funded” and no longer takes contributions for it. Its page gives only one counted figure, from February 2022.

The plan on Ecologi’s page was for a seven-year project, with around 14.25 million trees planted across the site in that time. That is an estimate of the whole plan, not a count of trees in the ground.

1. February 2022More than 2 million trees planted at the Kass FM site so far. The site has room for 14.25 million.
2. September 2022Ecologi’s team visits the planting site and the nurseries at Tendwet and Nkoben.
3. October 2024Ecologi reports that trees planted three years earlier, near one of the nurseries it visited, are growing well. No new count is given.

Over 2 milliontrees planted by February 2022, the last counted figure Ecologi published for this project.

How the project is checked

We do not choose or run the projects ourselves. They are selected and monitored by Ecologi, and this project carries the “Nature Project Ecologi Approved” mark on its Ecologi page. Ecologi staff also visited the site in person in September 2022 and published what they saw.

Ecologi keeps a public record of what each of its members has funded, so our contribution can be checked by anyone. The link is in the project details below.

What Printlogik has funded here

Through the Print A Tree Project, Printlogik orders have funded 1,150 trees in the Mau Region.

Ecologi no longer takes contributions for this project, so that figure is our final count here. Every order we print still funds planting: the contribution is made for you through Ecologi and goes to the projects it is funding today.

How your order gets here

1. You order printAny order, of any size. There is nothing to tick and nothing extra to pay.
2. We make a contributionEach invoice triggers a contribution from Printlogik to Ecologi.
3. Trees go in the groundEcologi funds projects like this one, and records what we have funded in public.

The UN global goals it supports

The United Nations has set 17 Sustainable Development Goals for a fairer, healthier planet by 2030. Ecologi records this project as supporting 8 of them.

• 1No poverty
• 2Zero hunger
• 3Good health and well-being
• 4Quality education
• 5Gender equality
• 8Decent work and economic growth
• 13Climate action
• 15Life on land

Where it is

Mau Region, Kenya · 0.8°S, 35.7°E

Location	Mau Region, Kenya
Type of project	Reforestation
Run by	Eden Reforestation Projects
Status	Ecologi lists it as previously funded, so it no longer takes new contributions
Funded by Printlogik	1,150 trees
Full record	See it on Ecologi