A delegation from Farm Africa Ethiopia visited the Kenya Forest Service (KFS) Headquarters to gain insight and share experiences into the emerging cutting-edge technologies on near real-time integrated landscape change tracking, monitoring and the forest alerts system.
The Team was hosted by Deputy Chief Conservator of Forest – Natural Forest Conservation , Ms. Beatrice Mbula on behalf of the Chief Conservator of Forests Mr. Alex Lemarkoko. The Ethiopian Team was led by Dr. Gudina Legese together with Diana Onyango from Farm Africa and Dr. Zemede Mulushaua from Hawassa University Ethiopia.
The team is composed of fifteen (15) high level Government Officials, engaged in enlightening discussions regarding the National Forest Monitoring Systems and use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) which plays a pivotal role in monitoring forest and land use landscape change within Kenya. The visit served as an opportunity to deepen understanding, integration and explore avenues for collaboration and partnership in sustainable forest management within the region.
During the visit, the Farm Africa Ethiopia team had the chance to visit various departments within KFS HQs, including Forest Information System (FIS) Lab, Survey and Mapping, Forest Protection and Security, Tree Biotechnology and the Forest Inventory.
Additionally, plans are under way to visit Kwale and Kilifi counties, where further exploration and demonstrations of the use of Forest Alerts System will take place. The team will also learn about the collaboration between KFS, Community Forest Associations (CFA) and other stakeholders through the use of Citizen Science and Mobile GIS App.
The meeting was facilitated by Dr. Benjamin Kinyili, Ag. Manager Forest Survey and Information Management, and Nafasi Mfahaya, Principal Planning and Monitoring Officer.
