The new multi-year reforestation project, coordinated and directed by Richard S. Odingo andcalled Operation "Got Owaga" has started last summer 2009in the Nyando Valley, Nyanza (Kenya). The area that is going to be afforested is dedicated to the sugar cane cultivation, whose popularity is the main cause of deforestation. Theincreasing population, attracted by job opportunities, as well as by the demand for wood to produce energy from the local sugar and lime factories, have also compromised the situation. The condition is not that different in other parts of Kenya: due to uncontrolled deforestation, today the forest covers only is 1, 3% of the total territory, white in 1963, when Kenia got independence, it was 3%. The situation is even worse if one considers that all areas of forest are located along the river basins of the Country’s major rivers. Among all the hit areas, we highlightsMau Forest, a fundamental source of water especially for some rivers in the western Kenya, such as Mara and Sondu-Miriu.

The Operation Got Owaga is growing in its first phase on a three-acre plot with the initial deployment of an experimental plantation in order to identify the most suitable species for planting and silvicultural treatments to be implement. The first plants were offered by Kenya Forestry Research Institute of Londiani and Masen. In the future, the project will also involvethe local farmers. Besides, as in recent years the government has adopted a policy that encourages the planting of trees on small and large farmers' funds, we can hope for the government support. All this in the belief that only reforestation programs involving the whole community in orfer to provide the wood for domestic use, can make the difference in improving the current situation. Wood surplus will be sold by the local communities to factories and institutions to generate revenue.