STORY: Kenya launches China-supported bamboo agroforestry initiative to manage floods
SHOOTING TIME: Oct. 31, 2024
DATELINE: Nov. 2, 2024
LENGTH: 00:02:21
LOCATION: Nairobi
CATEGORY: ENVIRONMENT

SHOTLIST:
1. various of the event
2. SOUNDBITE 1 (English): WANG GUOQIN, UNEP-IEMP Program Manager
3. SOUNDBITE 2 (English): LOU YIPING, Chinese technical advisor
4. SOUNDBITE 3 (English): JUDITH NYUNJA, Senior scientist from the Wildlife Research and Training Institute

STORYLINE:

Kenya has launched a new initiative aimed at promoting the planting of bamboo trees along the Nzoia River basin in western Busia County.
   
This project, funded by the Chinese Academy of Sciences through its Sino-Africa Joint Research Center, is designed to control flooding, enhance climate resilience, and improve food security for local communities. The project is also aimed at restoring the ecological health of the Nzoia River, a major tributary of Lake Victoria, Africa's largest freshwater body.

Titled "Ecosystem Restoration for Enhancing Livelihoods and Addressing Climate Change: China-Kenya Cooperation on Bamboo Technology Transfer," the project is implemented in collaboration with the United Nations Environment Program's affiliated International Ecosystem Management Partnership (UNEP-IEMP).
   
The launch event, held Thursday, was attended by senior government officials, scientists, farmers, and environmental advocates. Key partners in the bamboo plantation initiative include the Kenya Forestry Research Institute, the Wildlife Research and Training Institute of Kenya, and Jaramogi Oginga Odinga University of Science and Technology.

UNEP-IEMP Program Manager Wang Guoqin highlighted the project's potential to regenerate the Nzoia River basin and enhance its resilience to climate-related shocks while curbing biodiversity loss.
  
SOUNDBITE 1 (English): WANG GUOQIN, UNEP-IEMP Program Manager
"Today, we are here for this project about bamboo restoration, especially to help in stabilizing the river banks here, because we were invited, knowing that floods here are really nationally and globally well known. I read the news that people wake up in the middle of the night, seeing people shouting that floods are coming in and they try to stop or run away. But within that flood, a three-year-old boy was washed away in the water and I feel a bit astonished of reading that news and we think that there is something we can do."

The project will showcase China's expertise in bamboo-based ecological restoration while facilitating skills and technology transfer to foster a vibrant bamboo industry in Kenya, said Wang, adding that local farmers and fishermen will receive training on establishing bamboo nurseries, planting, and managing the trees until maturity. This will help to stabilize the riverbank ecosystem, sequester carbon, and provide wildlife habitats.

SOUNDBITE 2 (English): LOU YIPING, Chinese technical advisor
"We try to bring the bamboo technology to Kenya. So this is like a bunch of projects between China and Africa, especially Kenya cooperation partnership." 

Judith Nyunja, a senior scientist from the Wildlife Research and Training Institute, noted that large-scale bamboo cultivation offers a cost-effective and sustainable approach to managing recurrent floods that have exacerbated poverty, displacement, and disease outbreaks in the area.

SOUNDBITE 3 (English): JUDITH NYUNJA, Senior scientist from the Wildlife Research and Training Institute
"The reason why we are using bamboo crop to mitigate the impact of flooding is because of the structure of the bamboo crop. The root structure helps in ensuring that the soil is intact so that when it floods, the strength of the water is slowed down." 
   
The Kenyan government aims to plant 15 billion trees by 2032. Nyunja said this goal is intended to restore degraded forests and freshwater bodies.

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Nairobi.
(XHTV)