How Native PEP Is Restoring Drylands and Livelihoods
In Tiaty, Baringo County, a community-led restoration effort is showing how bringing native grasses back to degraded land can restore pasture, improve soil health, human health and create new opportunities for pastoralist families.
At sunrise in Atulayan village, the road tells a familiar story.
Herds of livestock move in search of pasture, following shepherds across a landscape that has endured years of increasingly erratic weather. Drought has stripped the land of vegetation, while intense rainfall has brought flash floods, accelerating soil erosion and further degrading already fragile rangelands.
For pastoralist communities, the consequences extend beyond the environment.
When pasture and water disappear, families are forced to move in search of grazing. Competition over limited resources can increase tensions and, in some cases, trigger conflict.
But in one corner of Tiaty, a different story is taking root.
On a 16-acre piece of land in Atulayan village, members of the community are restoring degraded rangeland through the Native Plants for Environment and People (Native PEP) project, using native grass species to rebuild vegetation cover and create a more reliable source of fodder.
What was once largely rocks, dust and bare soil is now covered in green.
From degraded land to a community asset
For years, erratic weather and pressure on grazing areas had depleted pasture in Atulayan. Local attempts to allow grass to regenerate through paddocking and fencing had not produced the expected results.
Seventy-year-old resident Francis Lemariwa remembers the challenge.
“We were struggling, so some people came and told us to fence off the area and see whether anything would grow,” he recalls.
The community fenced the land, but little happened.
The lesson was important: protecting degraded land from grazing pressure could help, but in severely degraded areas, natural regeneration could take years without additional intervention.
That is where active reseeding became central to the restoration effort.
In April 2023, researchers working with the community introduced grass seed and supported residents to establish the restoration site. The community agreed to dedicate part of the land, fence it and plant the seeds.
“We sat down together and discussed what benefits we could get from doing something like this,” says resident Kipkesio Kukat. “We then decided to fence off the land, and they helped us by providing the grass seeds, which we planted.”
Giving native grasses a chance to return
The restoration was not simply about planting any available grass.
Researchers were investigating the encroachment of Acacia reficiens in the area and its relationship with declining grass cover. The project therefore reseeded two grass species, Cenchrus ciliaris and Eragrostis, selected because they grow well in the area.
Dr Staline Kibet, from University of Nairobi, explains why active reseeding is important.
“If we just fence and fail to do reseeding then we may even have to wait for ten years and nothing will grow here,” he says.
For the community, the results have been tangible.
A carpet of vegetation now covers land that previously carried the scars of prolonged degradation.
The transformation demonstrates an important principle behind restoration: degraded landscapes can recover when communities are supported to use approaches suited to their local ecological conditions.
Restoring the land and its ability to hold water
The benefits of the restored grassland extend beneath the surface.
Healthy soil is critical to the water cycle. Bare, degraded land is less able to absorb rainfall, allowing water to run rapidly across the surface and contribute to erosion and flooding.
Dr Urs Schaffner, from CABI Switzerland, explains the difference vegetation can make.
“If you have bare land and it starts raining, all of the water flows away above ground,” he says. “But if you start growing these grasses again, you see that the water can infiltrate into the soil and the soil remains moist for a much longer period.”
Grass roots also help aerate the soil and reduce runoff by allowing more water to enter the soil.
For a region that has experienced both prolonged drought and flash floods, improving the land’s ability to absorb and retain water is particularly important.
From a health risk to a household resource
Atulayan’s restoration story is ultimately about more than grass. For pastoralist households, reliable pasture can mean keeping livestock close to home rather than migrating in search of grazing. But the benefits of the Native PEP-supported reseeding programme are reaching households in other ways too.
Before the programme, the scarcity of grass meant some residents relied on Parthenium hysterophorus to roof their huts, despite the plant’s associated health risks. Others had to travel as far as Paka or Korossi hills (30-50 Km of rugged terrain) to find suitable grass.
Chepökapsöt Lolimä says the return of grass has changed that.
“First, we now have grass for thatching our huts, whereas previously, we relied on the Parthenium for roofing, as there was no grass within our area unless one travels as far as Paka or Korossi hills to get grass.”
Parthenium is known to pose serious health risks to both people and livestock. Its pollen, leaves and roots contain parthenin and other compounds that can trigger allergic reactions and other health problems following exposure.
For residents of Atulayan, however, the problem was not simply the presence of Parthenium. It was the lack of alternatives.
The harvested grass is also used to make shades for initiators during traditional initiation ceremonies and is sold to generate income.
“Second, we used the harvested grass to make shades for initiators who stayed in the bush for about three months during initiation ceremonies. Third, harvesting and selling the grass has generated income, which has improved our livelihoods.”
For Kipkesio Kukat, that income is helping meet essential household needs without selling livestock.
“We used to sleep outside, but now we have a roof over our heads. Even when our children are sitting their exams, we can sell grass and send them to school without having to sell our goats.”
The experience shows how restoring degraded land can create benefits that extend well beyond the environment; providing fodder, supporting cultural practices, improving household incomes and helping families protect the livestock on which their livelihoods depend.
A pathway away from migration and conflict
Before the restoration effort, dry seasons could mean leaving home in search of grazing.
Francis describes how such journeys could lead to disputes over increasingly scarce resources.
“Whenever the dry season comes, people usually migrate. We go to Rukus, and we don’t return empty-handed. That’s when conflicts often begin, we fight over grass and water.”
The restored site has changed that experience for members of the group.
“Since we came together like this, even though there are only a few of us in this group, we haven’t had to migrate.”
That is one of the most significant dimensions of the project.
Restoration is not only rebuilding vegetation. It is helping create conditions in which communities can remain on their land for longer, with access to fodder that reduces pressure to move.
From one community to a wider landscape
The 16-acre site is only one piece of a much larger landscape.
For Native PEP, its importance lies partly in what it demonstrates: restoration can be rooted in community decisions and practical livelihood needs while addressing wider environmental challenges.
Mary Todopong, from University of Nairobi, believes the approach could have a much wider impact if adopted by other communities across Tiaty.
“If the whole theatre adopt this kind of idea that can be transformation for them,” she says, pointing to communities in Loyamorok, Ripko Silale, Churo and Tangulbei.
A wider adoption of the approach could increase the availability of fodder for livestock and reduce pressure on remaining grazing areas.
A green promise for Tiaty
For now, residents continue to harvest the grass, feed their livestock and work the land.
They are making hay while the sun shines, but they are also doing something more enduring: rebuilding the productive capacity of land that had become increasingly difficult to depend on.
The 16-acre restoration site is a reminder that restoring ecosystems and improving livelihoods do not have to be competing goals.
With the right support, native grasses can help rebuild soil, improve water infiltration, provide fodder, supply thatching material, support cultural practices and create income.
For the people of Atulayan, every new patch of green represents a little more security.
And for the Native PEP Project, the experience offers a practical example of what landscape restoration can look like when ecological recovery is connected to the lives, traditions and livelihoods of the people who depend on the land.
The promise is not simply that the grass will return. It is that, with the community at the centre of restoration, life can return with it.
Article by: Simon Njoroge