The problem
Soil erosion, deforestation and destruction of grazing lands are damaging ecosystems across eastern Africa.
Widespread land degradation and disruptions to water flow are driving wildlife populations into decline and threatening the livelihoods of rural communities.
Climate change is making the situation worse, as increased temperatures, reduced rainfall and extreme weather events contribute to land degradation and cause crop failures and livestock losses.
Rural communities lack access to the expertise, materials, finance and markets they need to adapt.
The opportunity
Finding ways to make conservation activities profitable helps rural people protect and restore land, forests and water systems while improving their livelihoods at the same time.
Implementing practices that protect ecosystems can enhance soil health and water conservation and reduce dependency on chemical inputs, leading to more sustainable and productive agriculture.
The outcome
Restoring ecosystems in partnership with local communities breaks the cycle of destruction. This approach creates new income-generating opportunities for local communities, such as through ecotourism or sustainable harvesting of non-timber forest products.
Sustainable livelihood opportunities nurture ecosystems. Farms become more productive, water supplies more stable, forests more biodiverse, grazing lands more fertile and wildlife more abundant.
That increases resilience to climate change, not just for people living locally, but for the planet we all share.
How we protect ecosystems
Farm Africa works in partnership with local people to protect ecosystems by:
- Helping communities develop landscape-scale management plans, so that improvements in one area don’t have negative impacts elsewhere.
- Establishing community-led cooperatives to manage local forests and rangelands, with bylaws to back them up.
- Helping people who protect local ecosystems, such as by planting trees on their farms, tap into schemes like carbon credits, so they can earn income from their efforts.
- Developing enterprises for natural products like forest coffee, spices and honey to give an economic incentive to protect nature.
- Providing training on climate-smart agriculture so farmers can earn more while increasing their resilience to erosion, drought and flooding.
- Supporting farmers to boost productivity of their crops and herds of livestock, rather than clearing forests for agricultural expansion and grazing.
- Promoting beekeeping to encourage the planting and protection of trees and help reverse the decline in the number of bees, which play a crucial role in pollination and maintaining biodiversity.
- Supporting people to explore sustainable alternatives to forest-sourced fuelwood and timber.
The latest on protecting ecosystems
Watch
Related resources
Country
Ethiopia
Key focus areas
Act on climate change
Increase incomes
Protect ecosystems
The Forests for Sustainable Development programme: stories of impact
This publication captures the progress of the Forests for Sustainable Development programme as it partners with communities in the ecologically critical Bale Eco-region of Ethiopia to balance local livelihood needs with the protection of globally significant natural forests. Alongside the impact summary is a collection of stories from the community and an overview of key lessons learnt along the way.
Download (2.86mb)
Country
Ethiopia
Key focus areas
Act on climate change
Increase incomes
Protect ecosystems
Country
Uganda
Key focus areas
Boost productivity
Increase food security and nutrition
Protect ecosystems
Maize production training manual
This maize production training manual will be used by Farm Africa Village-based Advisors and government extension workers to help improve maize crop management in Uganda. This revised version contains more photos to help farmers comprehend more about better maize farming techniques, as well as additions such as “Farm record keeping” to assist farmers manage their production costs and enhance their income.
Download (3.57mb)
Country
Uganda
Key focus areas
Boost productivity
Increase food security and nutrition
Protect ecosystems
Country
Uganda
Key focus areas
Boost productivity
Increase food security and nutrition
Protect ecosystems
Rice production training manual
This is a revised “Rice Cultivation Handbook” for both upland and lowland rice cultivation techniques that will be used by Farm Africa Village-based Advisors to help improve rice crop management in Uganda. This version contains more photos to help farmers comprehend better rice cultivation techniques. The revised version also contains additions such as “Farm record keeping” to assist farmers in managing their production costs and enhancing their income.
Download (3.57mb)
Country
Uganda
Key focus areas
Boost productivity
Increase food security and nutrition
Protect ecosystems
Country
Uganda
Key focus areas
Boost productivity
Increase food security and nutrition
Protect ecosystems
Beans production training manual
This beans production training manual will be used by Farm Africa Village-based Advisors and government extension workers to help improve beans crop management in Uganda. This version contains more photos to help our farmers comprehend more about better beans farming techniques. The revised version also contains additions such as “Farm record keeping” to assist farmers manage their production costs and enhance their income.
Download (5.47mb)
Country
Uganda
Key focus areas
Boost productivity
Increase food security and nutrition
Protect ecosystems
Country
Ethiopia
Key focus areas
Act on climate change
Increase incomes
Protect ecosystems
Strengthening Participatory Forest Management in Ethiopia
This policy brief outlines recommendations from Tree Aid and Farm Africa on how participatory forest management can be strengthened and scaled to protect Ethiopia’s forests.
Download (1.46mb)
Country
Ethiopia
Key focus areas
Act on climate change
Increase incomes
Protect ecosystems
Country
Kenya
Key focus areas
Boost productivity
Connect farmers to markets
Protect ecosystems
Kenya projects overview 2025
Farm Africa supports small-scale farmers, women,and young people in Kenya to adopt sustainable, climate-resilient agriculture that protects livelihoods and natural resources.This overview summarises the projects Farm Africa is running across Kenya in 2025.
Download (2.99mb)
Country
Kenya
Key focus areas
Boost productivity
Connect farmers to markets
Protect ecosystems
