2008

The Government recognized the threat to Mau and other Water Towers in 2008 and after a reconnaissance of these important ecosystems; the government formed a Task Force on the conservation of the Mau Forests Complex which included KFS, KWS, WRMA (currently, WRA) and key Ministries.

The Taskforce’s responsibility was to study and make recommendations to the government on the immediate, short- and long-term options for restoring the entire Mau Forest Complex and other water towers. The sustainability of Mau ecosystem would be secured by moving it from ‘single-asset’ system, where timber extraction, charcoal and human settlements are seen as the only real value of the ecosystem, to a ‘multiple-asset’ approach, which recognizes the wide variety of values of this ecosystem and diversifies revenue streams by capitalizing on ecosystem values, thereby maximizing both conservation and economic returns on the investment.