The Kipepeo Project is a community-based enterprise supporting people living around the Arabuko Sokoke forest in coastal Kenya, creating income-generating opportunities from forest butterflies while encouraging conservation.
1993Project founded
90%Farmers are women
$80k+Annual gross income
01 · Overview
Conservation by livelihood.
The Kipepeo Project is a community-based enterprise that supports the livelihoods of people living around Arabuko Sokoke forest in coastal Kenya.
The Project promotes conservation by creating income-generating opportunities from forest butterflies. The Arabuko Sokoke forest is the last large remnant of the north-coast forests that once dominated Kenya's coastline.
A vital resource for local communities, it also forms part of the Eastern African Coastal Forest System, considered to be among the top 25 biodiversity hot spots on earth. Kipepeo Project is trying to diminish the threat of unsustainable use by local communities trying to meet their basic needs.
02 · Activity areas
Forest co-management in practice.
01
Forest co-management
In 2003, USAID awarded US $1.2 million through Nature Kenya and the National Museums of Kenya to support the implementation of Kenya's first pilot forest co-management initiative at the Arabuko Sokoke forest before the enactment of the Forest Act (2005).
02
Nature-based business
The pilot initiative aimed to establish sustainable nature-based businesses to create incentives for forest conservation and help reduce forest loss.
03
Expanded markets
As part of that initiative, Kipepeo received support to expand its butterfly farming business and processing facilities, diversify its products, and establish new export markets for butterfly pupae.
From forest pressure to forest value.
Kipepeo also produces honey and promotes improved beekeeping among farmers around the forest. Kipepeo farmers have installed modern honey processing equipment and use digital marketing to raise awareness of their products and the conservation message behind them.
03 · Activity impact
Protecting the plants butterflies depend on.
Different species of butterflies serve as indicators of the ecological health of forests.
To ensure that coastal butterflies maintain the plants and trees they need for survival, Kipepeo farmers have established tree nurseries and planted trees on their farms to breed pupae. This serves a dual purpose of protecting the mature forest from over harvesting and breeding butterflies for income.
Many Kipepeo farmers are now members of Community Forest Associations, helping to protect and conserve the Arabuko forest. The project has proved that incentive-based co-management is a successful model for forest conservation.
This approach has been instrumental in influencing the forest policy in Kenya.
By growing host plants and establishing woodlots on farms, farmers reduce over-reliance on Arabuko Sokoke while creating better conditions for butterfly breeding.
$80kgrossed annually over the past five years
90%of gross income from export of butterfly pupae
90%+of Kipepeo farmers are women
2012USAID supported a live-butterfly exhibit at Fort Jesus Museum
04 · Local demand
Secure markets for coastal farmers.
Over 90% of Kipepeo farmers are women, which means income is directly spent within the household.
Kipepeo farmers have established tree nurseries and woodlots on their farms, reducing over-reliance on the Arabuko Forest. In 2012, USAID supported the Fort Jesus Museum to construct a live-butterfly exhibit.
The exhibit purchases excess pupae produced by Arabuko and other coastal forest farmers, which, for the first time, provides secure and reliable local demand for butterfly pupae.
In addition to ensuring local demand, the exhibit gift shops plans to market a range of conservation-minded community products, further showcasing the biodiversity of coastal forests and generating income for coastal people.
1993
Project founded. Kipepeo began as a butterfly farming initiative around Arabuko Sokoke forest.
2003
Co-management support. USAID funded Nature Kenya and the National Museums of Kenya to support a pilot forest co-management initiative.
2012
Local exhibit demand. USAID supported Fort Jesus Museum to construct a live-butterfly exhibit purchasing excess pupae from coastal farmers.
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