How do we identify community and natural resource needs? What are people doing to thrive as well as survive? Executive Director Nelson Muiru of Kijabe Environment Volunteers (KENVO) talks with Jeff Ishee, Mary Sketch Bryant, and Eric Bendfeldt for a second episode on how they seek to balance the everyday social and financial needs of people and communities in the Central Highlands of Kenya in East Africa with important natural resource needs. Farming is a primary livelihood and source of sustenance for many people in rural Kenya. At the same time, people and communities rely on forests for timber and charcoal for everyday use and as a source of income. Therefore, it is essential to understand community needs and what people require to thrive while balancing and communicating how indigenous forests provide critical ecosystem services such as water catchment, erosion control, air purification, and pollinator habitat that benefit the local community, towns along the Kikuyu Escarpment, and even cities like Nairobi, Nakuru, Kisumu, and Mombasa. KENVO provides community-based leadership and education to link farmers and communities to existing and emerging markets for farm and forest crops, value-added agricultural consumer goods, and non-timber forest products.

To learn more about Kijabe Environment Volunteers' (KENVO) community-focused conservation work, please visit https://kenvo.org/

To join the Virginia Soil Health Coalition and pledge your support for soil health, please visit https://www.virginiasoilhealth.org/ and https://4thesoil/take-the-pledge

To nourish and (re)imagine collaboration, conservation, and community, plan to register and attend the upcoming 2023 Virginia Farm to Table Conference.