The Green Zones Development Support Project (GZDSP) is a six year Project financed through a Loan from the African Development Fund (ADF) of the African Development Bank (ADB).The project is implemented by two Agencies-Kenya Forest Services in the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources and Nyayo Tea Zones Corporation in the Ministry of Agriculture (MOA). The Ministry of Agriculture is the Executing Agency, having administered the first phase of the project which was wholly implemented by Nyayo Tea Zones Corporation. Field implementation is undertaken by participating communities and households, with support from service providers, various NGOs/Associations and KEFRI.

The Green Zones Development Support Project (GZDSP) is anchored on several policies

• The ADB’s Agriculture and Rural Development Policy, with particular emphasis on natural resource management and environmental protection.
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  The Kenya Result-based Country Strategy Paper (2005 – 2007) which aims at reducing vulnerability and improving equity through agricultural and rural development.
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  The core Millennium Development Goals ( MDG) objectives of poverty alleviation and sustainable development.
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  The comprehensive agriculture mandate of the NEPAD initiatives which supports the Kenya’s Economic Recovery Strategy (ERS) aims to restore economic growth, generate employment opportunities, and reduce poverty levels.

Kenya’s dependence on the natural environment is profound. Those sectors which directly depend on environment include: agriculture and horticulture, tourism, wildlife, and the energy. Eighty percent of rural energy needs comes from wood.  Closed forest cover (about 1.7% for indigenous forests) is the lowest in East Africa, and water has become a major constraint to agricultural production. It is against this background that concerns over management of Kenyan forest resources have occupied a position of some importance. In attempting to stem the decline in environmental resources, the Government, through its Forest Policy Sessional Paper No. 9 of 2005; the Forest act 2005, and statements on the implementation of a Green Revolution in Kenya, has emphasised the need to protect and conserve forests as a base for water, wood and food & nutritional security.

It is in this context that the Government of Kenya requested the African Development Bank (ADB) in September 2004 to revisit its earlier request in July 2002 for support to a forestry conservation project in Kenya.  Earlier (October 2002) the Food and Agriculture Organisation Investment Centre (FAO/IC), on behalf of the GOK and the Bank, prepared a forest conservation project. The Bank responded by fielding a follow-up mission in March 2005 to present the highlights of the preparation report and review with relevant institutions for technical improvement and response to policy and institutional changes that have occurred since 2002. A final report was written after several consultative stakeholders meetings followed by a Bank mission in Kenya in May 2005, which validated the implementation of project activities.

Project Goals:

1. To contribute to poverty reduction
2. To improve forest cover and promote biodiversity conservation in Kenya

Project Objectives

1. To promote forest regeneration and conservation for environmental protection
2. To improve rural livelihoods and incomes of communities living adjacent to the forests.